Los Angeles’s Restaurants Are Offering Relief to Those Affected by Wildfires
Several restaurants in the Los Angeles area have rallied together to provide relief for surrounding communities as a slew of wildfires continue to ravage the city.
The local food scene has been hit hard by the fires that have broken out around the L.A. County. Multiple Malibu institutions were destroyed in the Palisades Fire, including Reel Inn, Cholada Thai and Moonshadows. That fire, one of six blazing wildfires that was at 6 percent containment as of Friday, initially broke out in the Pacific Palisades Tuesday before spreading to parts of Malibu and Santa Monica.
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Eateries around the city have been doing their part to help those suddenly finding themselves displaced, whether that be through meals to first responders, offering their restaurant as a shelter or donating profits to relief efforts. Below, find some of the spots that have joined in to help.
Pizzana
Brentwood, Marina Del Rey, Sherman Oaks, Silver Lake, West Hollywood
The award-winning pizza shop, which has several locations throughout the city, announced they were donating 100 percent of the profits from all L.A. restaurants this weekend to the California Fire Foundation. In an email announcing the donations, the restaurant said: “Los Angeles is our home. It is where we work, where we gather and where our neighbors live. Watching these fires devastate our community has left us heartbroken.”
Yeastie Boys Bagels
Silver Lake, Studio City, Melrose Place, Los Feliz, Venice, DTLA, Highland Park
The iconic L.A. traveling bagel restaurant had several of its trucks stationed and feeding frontline works. The food truck partnered with World Central Kitchen Thursday to feed those at the Pasadena Convention Center. Yeastie Boy’s Instagram account, presumably from its owner Evan Fox, posted that he also evacuated Wednesday night. “I grabbed my Bar Mitzvah photo album and my passport. Literally nothing else matters. Straight up,” the post said. “Love & gratitude to everyone lending a helping hand and heart. Los Angeles Forever. Best city in the entire world.”
Cafe Tropical
Silver Lake
The Cuban cafe posted to Instagram that they were staying open Wednesday night to offer “a place for people to come get a coffee or just need somewhere to hang.” The cafe also posted videos of their partnership with nonprofit Feed The Streets to make 600 breakfast burritos for firefighters. Feed The Streets said on their Instagram account that they will continue to operation out of Cafe Tropical into next week.
Din Tai Fung
Century City, Glendale
The beloved Taiwanese chain announced Thursday that all L.A. restaurants would remain open to serve up a “comforting meal.” An Instagram post from the restaurant chain said there might be changes to operations and menus due to smaller teams and meal donations to first responders and shelters. “We will continue to take care of our team members, their families, and the first responders,” the post said.
DTown Pizzeria
West Hollywood
The Detroit-style pizzeria is offering free pizza slices to firefighters and first responders, according to a post on their social media. They’re also offering discounts to evacuees. In addition, they’ll be donating to L.A. Fire Department.
Irv’s Burgers
West Hollywood
The beloved WeHo burger stand – which returned to the L.A. food scene in 2022 thanks to Off the Menu founder Lawrence Longo and industry backers including WME talent agent and partner Brad Slater and a slew of celebrities – helped out first responders Thursday. The fast food spot reportedly sent burgers and fries to the L.A. Fire Department.
Fat and Flour Bakery
Culver City
The bakery’s DTLA location remained closed on Thursday, however, their Culver City spot was open, offering free food and coffee. The spot said they had bread, pies, cookies and most importantly for those who might be without electricity, power, for anyone who might need somewhere to be or a place to charge devices. The bakery emphasized in an Instagram post that it was donation only for the day.
Guisados
Boyle Heights, DTLA, Echo Park, West Hollywood, Burbank, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Hermosa Beach, Long Beach, Venice
An Angeleno favorite taco chain, Guisados said it would continue to open with minimal staff to accommodate impacted employees. The restaurants said they’d be donating to local shelters throughout the week.
Jitlada
East Hollywood
The Michelin Guide-feature Thai food spot announced it would offer free food to first responders and firefighters. In an Instagram post, the restaurant said: “To give back, Jitlada is offering free meals to the firefighters and first responders tirelessly working to keep us safe. Your courage inspires us, and this is our way of saying thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
Spago
Beverly Hills
Wolfgang Puck’s flagship Beverly Hills restaurant opened Thursday, chipping in to help feed first responders. The restaurant reposted an Instagram story that it was offering free meals to first responders.
The Ruby Fruit
Silver Lake
Sapphic wine bar The Ruby Fruit not only offered those in need of water and WiFi a place to go, it also put out a call to action for donation items including blankets, non-perishable pantry food items and high quality KN95 masks. In an Instagram post update, the bar wrote: “We’re here, we’re queer, we’ve got water and WiFi and we’re accepting donations: water, canned food/pantry items, clothing, blankets, diapers, food masks… what else ya got??”
This is a developing story.
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