We’ll be pouring out some of Lucques’s groundbreaking cocktails—fortunately, we’ll be able to do so through the start of May.
In a surprise joint statement this afternoon, Lucques Group founders chef Suzanne Goin and restaurateur Caroline Styne shared that their flagship restaurant and business namesake will close this spring after 21 years in West Hollywood as a beacon of California cuisine.
An early devotee of farmers’ market sourcing and one of the first restaurants to gain widespread acclaim for a hyper-seasonal bar program—one that’s still helmed by its originator, Christiaan Rollich—Lucques has been a trailblazer, in addition to being one of the city’s most romantic restaurants.
“Lucques has lived a long and wonderful life and become far more than the sum of its parts. We are so proud of what we have accomplished which was way beyond our wildest imagination when we opened our doors at 8474 Melrose Avenue on September 25, 1998,” the statement says. “We could not have anticipated the immeasurable love and dedication that grew over time for a place that we both just wanted to feel like the restaurant WE always wanted to go to.”
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The final night of service at Lucques is set for May 6, and to celebrate their decades of dishes, Goin and the team will be reprising some of their favorites until then: bluefish wrapped in pancetta; suckling pig; chorizo-stuffed lamb leg; churros with chocolate, and more.
And though Lucques is exiting the dining scene in two months’ time, that doesn’t mean the restaurant is just playing the hits: Goin’s new seasonal menu launches today—featuring spring dishes like green dumplings with sugar snaps, radish, parmesan and carrot-top pistou—and they’re still hosting their ever-evolving Sunday Suppers, plus events such as Nancy Silverton’s Chi Spacca Cookbook dinner in April.
“Through our two decades at Lucques, we have seen many engagements, marriages, family celebrations and children born," the statement says. "We have seen our own families form and grow. The highlight of it all has been beyond food, wine, service and atmosphere—it has been the relationships we have built with so many people who have come through our doors and lived their lives within the four walls of our first-born restaurant. We cherish those memories and they will live forever in our hearts.”
Lucques is located at 8474 Melrose Ave in West Hollywood, open for lunch Tuesday to Saturday from noon to 2:30pm, and for dinner Monday and Tuesday from 6 to 9:30pm; Tuesday and Wednesday from 6 to 10pm; Friday and Saturday from 6 to 10:30pm; and Sunday from 5 to 9:30pm.