Guerrilla Tacos, Sage, Lustig and more say they’re closing in early 2025
Genre-bending Guerrilla Tacos and farm-focused Sage are among some of the city’s most influential restaurants of the last decade to announce their closures in the first days of 2025.
A rash of shutterings in the early days of the year follows a grim 2024 for the restaurant industry, which saw more than 100 notable restaurants and bars close.
“Since COVID things have been extremely strained,” Guerrilla Tacos managing partner Brittney Valles-Gordon said in a video posted to Instagram over the weekend. “As the years passed and we had hope that things were going to get better, they simply have not.”
Founded by fine-dining vet Wes Avila in 2012, the celebrated Guerrilla Tacos helped ignite the Alta California culinary wave with scallop tacos, uni-topped tostadas and a rotation of other ingredients that might include squash, wild boar or celery root. Local and national acclaim earned Guerrilla Tacos its Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand recognition, a popular cookbook and multiple television appearances.
Avila popped up in vacant storefronts and on sidewalks until he purchased a food truck and eventually, with Valles-Gordon, opened a bricks-and-mortar restaurant and bar with a tandem cafe in the Arts District. In 2020, Avila stepped away from the kitchen and daily operations to focus on opening new restaurants, and Crystal Espinoza became head chef. The last day of service will be Jan. 31.
Jonathan Gold reviews the Guerrilla Tacos truck. Wes Avila crafts delicious tacos with various meats, vegetables and sauces.
“Guerrilla Tacos has always been a love letter to the city, and so I hope in these next few weeks that the city shows us some love back,” Valles-Gordon said in the Instagram video. “Although we’ve come to the end of the road here in downtown Los Angeles, you never know what is in store for Guerrilla Tacos. So stay tuned.”
Avila declined to comment. Valles-Gordon also declined to comment on the closure beyond her Instagram caption and video but told The Times in a text message, “I am sad to not be able to see our regulars and my employees every day, but I am so ready to get out of this REALLY difficult industry.”
Another long-running restaurant, Sage, also announced its closure. It was a standard-bearer of the city’s plant-based scene for more than a decade.
The formerly all-vegan restaurant made waves last spring when chef-owner Mollie Engelhart announced that the Echo Park restaurant and its Pasadena gastropub would begin serving meat and dairy alongside a new focus on supporting regenerative practices. Last week, management posted to Instagram that both restaurants would close days later, ending service on Jan. 5.
“We all poured our passion into shifting the concept to regenerative agriculture, but despite our efforts, we find ourselves in the same predicament today,” the announcement read. “Thank you for 14 incredible years of support. With love from the Sage family, Mollie & Elias, we say goodbye.”
When chef Mollie Engelhart took to social media to announce that Sage Vegan Bistro would start serving meat and dairy to focus on regenerative farming practices, it shocked many in L.A.’s vegan community.
On Sunday, gastropub and popular sports bar the Greyhound announced that it will shutter its Glendale location on Jan. 12. The outpost debuted in 2019 and offered a rotation of dishes unique to its location; the Highland Park iteration will remain open.
“We are so grateful to you, the Glendale community, that has supported [us] before, during, and after a global pandemic,” the Instagram post read. “We are grateful to our regulars, our fan clubs, and the people that came in once. When we opened this place, we didn’t know what to expect and we didn’t know who we’d meet. This has been the most fun, ever.”
The closing announcements continued into the week.
On Monday morning, chef Sean MacDonald’s Santa Monica restaurants Bar Monette and next-door Burgette announced that both will cease operations Jan. 31.
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“We are incredibly grateful for your patronage and love and are proud to have accomplished so much in such a short period of time,” the Instagram statement read. “None of it would have been possible without our incredible team and your unwavering support. Thank you all for being a part of our journey, and we hope to see you in the next few weeks before we go.”
Bar Monette launched in April 2023 as the debut U.S. restaurant from the Canadian chef, specializing in Neapolitan-leaning pizzas and wine, blocks from the beach and the Santa Monica Pier. It pulls its influence from Spain and Italy, with options such as a pan con tomate pizza topped with sliced Ibérico ham.
Roughly a year later, MacDonald opened Burgette next door, a low-lighted Parisian-inspired burger bistro where copper pots hang on the walls, the wine and cheese are primarily French, seasonal small plates blend cultures, and the burger patties are just as likely to feature American classics such as pickles and cheddar as they are haute toppings such as bone-marrow butter.
MacDonald was unavailable for comment before publication.
Cooking video: Chef That! Burgette’s Salmon Smash Burger!
About an hour after MacDonald’s joint closure announcement, Culver City restaurant Lustig announced its own end following one year of service. Chef-owner Bernhard Mairinger told The Times that the decision was spurred by a number of factors during the restaurant’s year-end review, including the cost of ingredients, the cost of labor, a surplus of restaurants vying for customers and inconsistency in business and foot traffic.
“The minute you have a day where you lack the customers to make up for the cost, it’s almost like you never catch up because it’s so inconsistent,” he said. “You have a good month, you have a bad month, you have another bad month, and then you have a good month, and it’s kind of like: The bad month makes so much damage that you’re looking at it as a whole, where it’s like, ‘What are we doing here?’”
After years of working as a private chef, the BierBeisl and Patina Restaurant Group vet opened his Austrian-leaning restaurant in the Helms Bakery District with some recognizable local talent, including water sommelier Martin Riese. Lustig serves fresh sourdough pretzels with truffled mustard; chicken liver mousse with Riesling pâte de fruit; and global variations on schnitzel. Its final night of service will be Jan. 26.
Austrian chef Bernhard Mairinger’s pumpkin soup is garnished with pumpkin seed pesto, roasted pumpkin seeds and an iridescent pumpkin seed oil.
Mairinger said that, in hindsight, Lustig should have charged 15% to 20% more than it did but echoed a sentiment that many in the industry fear: Raising food costs to a more sustainable business margin could drive any customers away. In the coming years he hopes for legislation and legal clarity that will help independent restaurants survive.
In the future, the chef said he might open “a more affordable version of Lustig,” a quick-and-casual concept that would not employ a full-service business model but “focus on the hits.” In the meantime, he might take a year or two to recuperate, reverting back to private cheffing and catering.
“I’m not sure if the city is ready, or if I’m ready, to just jump back in the way I would have been a few years ago,” he said. “I think I’m gonna wait a little bit and see what happens in L.A. and what the direction is. Too many restaurants opening and closing. Too many restaurants, period.”
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