Mess Hall is open in Los Feliz
The much-anticipated Mess Hall opened this past weekend at the Los Feliz building most famous for being the Brown Derby and most recently known as Louise’s Trattoria.
The sprawling space includes a surprising amount of large, roomy tables and a back patio reminiscent of summer camp. But, you know, a lot nicer. And without all the poison ivy. There’s even a generous parking lot in the back. The goal of the transformation is to make Mess Hall a fun, casual place for big groups of friends to gather and enjoy comfort food, says Louise’s Trattoria Chief Executive Robert Serritella.
But if there’s one thing the restaurant doesn’t want you to forget, it’s its roots. The decor is simple, warm, industrial. It reverently nods to the Brown Derby days, showing off the original architecture with exposed pipes and high ceilings revealing wooden rafters.
Chef Keith Silverton even offers Southern-style dishes, inspired by Willard’s Chicken Shack, the first restaurant to inhabit the space. Such entrees include Willard’s “far-famed” brick chicken served with mashed potatoes and collard greens, and the hog chop, which is a pork chop with white cheddar grits, mustard greens and Tabasco butter.
Silverton, formerly of Dominick’s, Smitty’s Grill and the Spider Club, has put together a regional American menu, offering oysters, salmon, steak and a burger. Because of his Pacific Northwest background, popular dishes so far include the Maine lobster mac ‘n’ cheese, oysters on the half shell and crispy oysters. Other popular dishes are the smoked corn fritters, kale Caesar salad and the hog chop.
But don’t get too used to the menu -- Serritella says the aim is to change it up every couple of weeks. Silverton, who makes his own bacon and smokes his house-made ketchup and butter, already has changed the ginger ketchup printed on the menu to the smoked ketchup.
The bar is manned by Erik Lund, formerly of Rivera, and serves weekly-changing craft beers, specialty cocktails and more than 300 kinds of bourbon. Patrons may want to show up earlier in the evening to sit at the bar and request a custom-made drink.
4500 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 660-6377, www.messhallkitchen.com.
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