The José Andrés Group (JAG), the parent company behind chef José Andrés’ 40 national and international restaurants, will open a branch of the successful Mediterranean restaurant Zaytinya in the Shay Hotel in Culver City by the end of 2024.

The 148-room hotel is part of a mixed-use complex called Ivy Station, which was completed in 2021 and includes offices, rental apartments and retail. The new Zaytinya, along with an as-yet-unnamed rooftop restaurant set to open in 2025, is part of a larger takeover of the hotel’s food and beverage program by JAG that includes in-room dining, poolside snacks, a lobby lounge and more. Andrés opened the original Zaytinya in Washington DC in 2002 and has since expanded the restaurant to South Beach and New York City.

Previously, the ground-floor restaurant was home to chef Michael Santoro’s Prima Donna, and before that, Chicago’s What If Syndicate operated Italian restaurant Etta. Now, Andrés’ ode to Greek, Turkish and Lebanese cuisine is moving into the 10,000-square-foot space, which has 152 seats inside and another 83 on the patio. “Culver City is a hub of entertainment studios where people from film and television come together to tell stories, similar to how we at Zaytinya share the diverse culture of cuisines through food,” Sam Bakhshandehpour, the CEO of JAG, tells Eater.

The Shay at Ivy Station

Zaytinya

The restaurant’s look and feel will be inspired by the designs of Zaytinya’s DC, New York and Florida locations, with warm bronze metals, white oak and blue accents meant to capture “the spirit of the Eastern Mediterranean,” according to a representative.

The food will also remain largely the same: Best-sellers like crispy Brussels sprouts, grilled octopus and a shareable kebab plate (lamb, kofte, chicken and adana) served with tomato, onion and garlic toum will be offered on the Culver City menu. A boon for the Los Angeles location is the wood-fired oven left over from Etta’s time. “We will develop customized dishes for LA based on this open-fire kitchen,” says Michael Costa, concept chef at JAG.

Andrés entered the Los Angeles restaurant scene in 2008 with molecular gastronomy temple Bazaar at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. The chef also operated the hotel’s fine-dining restaurant Somni before closing both restaurants in 2020. JAG currently operates San Laurel and Agua Viva at the Conrad Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. Bazaar Meat is scheduled to open at the Grand LA in 2025.