History, dinosaurs, insects and horticulture aren’t the only big attractions at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles starting March 17. A new restaurant from the team behind Post & Beam, one of LA’s most acclaimed southern restaurants, has been unveiled. to open this day with a mix of intercultural street food and home cooking.
The Neighborhood Grill at Post & Beam is a more casual successor to John and Roni Cleveland’s Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw restaurant, winner of the Los Angeles Times 101 Best Restaurants and Community Staples. The Clevelands will also showcase takeout items owned by black and brown food companies, part of an extensive culinary makeover overseen by South LA Cafe Hospitality, founded by Joe and Celia Ward-Wallace.
The collaboration between the Clevelands and South LA Cafe Hospitality allows for curating to-go juices, salads, charcuterie and other items from Dulan’s Soul Food Kitchen, Prince Wellness, Hotville Chicken, Southern Girls Desserts and others in addition to their own home – Items made in a refrigerated takeout box at the Neighborhood Grill.
According to museum officials, this is the first time the Natural History Museum has worked so closely with local chefs and restaurants to guide the dining program.
“I’m very excited to be able to play,” said Executive Chef John Cleveland. “There will be a lot of attention.”
He’s spent a lot of time in the kitchen over the past few months.
While Post & Beam’s kitchen focuses on Southern culinary traditions with a California twist, the chef sees Neighborhood Grill more representative of the fusion of LA street food with Southern cuisine and inspired by the museum’s edible garden. His new take on Ruben Subs collards for sauerkraut, tartar sauce for Russian dressing, and smoked gouda for Swiss, all while baking pulled wild mushroom tacos, grilled rockfish casseroles with cornmeal crust, seasonal flatbreads, and short ribs. It’s also a new way to feed families and children, including his own.
The Clevelands recently learned that their 6-year-old Miles needs a special diet that eliminates gluten, soy and eggs. The chef has designed gluten-free options for almost every item on the menu, including flatbread. Aside from the pastrami sandwich rye bread, Miles Cleveland can eat anything on the menu.
Much of the beer and wine list will reflect Post & Beam’s, with an emphasis on local producers such as Crowns & Hops is a black-owned craft beer company based in southern LA. SLAC Hospitality’s contract, effective February 1, also includes catering and culinary options outside the restaurant and take-out kiosks such as
“We wanted to double down on our through-for-and-with Los Angeles approach and community partnerships, and let the food service program engage our hyper-local community in a way we haven’t in the past,” said Dr. Lori Bettison-Varga, president and director of the museum.
Bettison-Varga says the museum has spent the past six years trying to showcase the neighborhood’s talent, makers and businesses, as well as the cultural richness and diversity of South LA in a way it has for 110 years in the past. done. institution did not exist. did not have . Some of his initiatives to achieve this goal have included establishing a Community Engagement Office to reach businesses and residents in the area and engage in discussions about their needs and concerns; another, like last year, featured a more varied programme Series about the intercultural intersection of bread and pastries in Los Angeles.
“When the call for proposals went out, we were thrilled that Joe and Celia responded with such innovative ideas to really bring local grocers in South LA together – and involve them in the opening of the NHM Commons,” said Bettison-Varga.
Wallaces district reached out to some of her favorite South LA chefs and businesses, including Post & Beam’s Clevelands, whose community-forward ethos matches hers.
The South LA Cafe will also operate its own outpost on the south side of the NHM Commons, which is expected to open in mid-2024.
By highlighting more black cooks and food products, the museum hopes to connect with the communities in its immediate area and be more representative of the fabric and visitor base of Los Angeles as a whole.
“We really hope to leverage the creativity of Joe and Celia and John and Roni,” says Bettison-Varga, “and the other local food services to create opportunities in the future that wouldn’t be possible for us.” on my own by every effort of the imagination.”
Neighborhood Grill fills the space formerly occupied by the NHM Grill, which closed at the end of January. In preparation for the opening on March 17, the dining room will be painted with a mural. Digital kiosks in the hallway can help speed up the ordering process, especially when hundreds of guests are pouring in at once. New furniture, including a communal table, will also help accommodate large groups.
In The Calm Before the Storm, John Cleveland envisions the Neighborhood Grill as an evolution of the Post & Beam, evolving into a restaurant growing in its own right. During the pandemic, the Clevelands’ restaurant began offering farm-to-table dining, appearing at more festivals and hosting historic culinary events, the latest of which were initiated by executive chef Martin Draluck. where the Black Pot Supper Club is located at Post & Beam honoring the legacy of addicted chefs. To continue the discussion, Draluck is currently planning with the museum to bring history-rich meals to the NHMLA grounds and, from its archives, tell the story of Los Angeles and the Great Migration, including the voices and eras of the history.
But Neighborhood Cafe is also an evolution of friendship and mutual respect — and a collaboration that his team says has only just begun.
“One of the nice things about running a business in South LA is that the business community is pretty close-knit and we all patronize each other’s businesses,” says John Cleveland. After years of chatting with the Ward-Wallaces on social media and over their meals at the Post & Beam, and respecting the South LA Cafe community’s food gifts to those in need, the opportunity to work together was one that the Clevelands couldn’t grab fast enough… not. . The Ward-Wallaces felt the same way.
“We felt like it was part of our destiny,” said Celia Ward-Wallace. “We live five minutes away, [the Clevelands] live eight minutes away, and [Joe and I] have a family membership since the birth of our children. This place means a lot to us; it’s not just an event. It actually feels like a divine command or that we’ve all come to this moment.
Joe and Celia Ward-Wallace hope that this new partnership and business foundation will one day expand beyond Exposition Park and that other restaurants and curated programs are the future, not just for SLAC Hospitality but for the rest of the country; Perhaps, they say, it’s not the one-time opening of a restaurant, but the beginning of a movement in amplifying black voices and products on such an institutional scale.
Source: LA Times