A Couple Named Their Restaurants After How They Met. The Sixth One Is on Main Street.

Six restaurants, one origin story, and the first of them that does not close after lunch.

Mindy and Vinny Kinne have built an entire restaurant group out of a single evening. Met Her at a Bar is open on Santa Monica's Main Street at 2651 Main Street, the couple's sixth room and the first to stay open clear through dinner.

There is a small naming wrinkle worth knowing. The neon over the door reads Met Her at a Bar. The gold letters on the wall inside, and the name on the ordering page, read Met Her on Main. Both are correct. Treat the first as the sign and the second as what the room calls itself.

The restaurants are the story

The Kinnes opened their first cafe, Met Her at a Bar, in Miracle Mile in 2017, known for homemade Belgian waffles and La Colombe coffee. What followed reads like a sequence rather than an expansion:

• Met Him at a Bar, built on Vinny's family Italian recipes, across the street at 801 S. La Brea.

• Her Thai, honoring Mindy's Bangkok roots and Thai street food.

• The Night We Met, a Thai bar with live music, built to recreate the evening the two of them actually met.

• Her Little Bar, an intimate neighborhood cocktail bar.

• Met Her on Main, the Santa Monica all-day cafe.

Three of those sit within walking distance of one another on La Brea, which is unusual enough that diners have remarked on it. Santa Monica is their first room outside that cluster.

What is different about this one

The Mid-Wilshire original is a brunch cafe that closes in the afternoon. The Main Street location is bigger and runs all day. Per The Infatuation, brunch is served until 2:30 p.m., after which the menu shifts to pizza, pasta and shareable plates including chicken parm and branzino. The cocktail list is new for this location, and Sormeh Rienne handled the design, having previously styled Her Thai and led upgrades at Met Him at a Bar.

Resy added it to its October Hit List, making the point that the sequel is bigger than the original.

What it means for Main Street

Santa Monica has been pushing to revitalize Main Street, and this is a sizeable bet on it. Per the Santa Monica Daily Press, the location is expected to create roughly 100 jobs, with the kitchen sourcing seasonal produce from local farmers markets where it can. The Kinnes have framed the goal as a neighborhood gathering place rather than simply another restaurant.

Not everyone was thrilled during construction. Yo! Venice noted mixed reactions from locals on social media when the project was announced, which is close to a tradition on that street.

Visiting

Met Her at a Bar is at 2651 Main Street, Unit A, Santa Monica, CA 90405, a few blocks from the beach in the Ocean Park stretch of Main.

• Hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

• Brunch: served until 2:30 p.m., then the evening menu takes over.

• Reservations: bookable through Resy.

• Parking: Santa Monica municipal structures serve Main Street, plus metered street parking. Weekend evenings are tight.

• The original: 759 S. La Brea Avenue in Miracle Mile, still open as a daytime cafe, (323) 847-5013.

What we have our eye on: the evening menu. A brunch group adding dinner service is a genuine test, and chicken parm and branzino are a long way from Belgian waffles. FJM will report back after a visit.

Follow along with more LA restaurant news, see what else has opened in our guide to new restaurants in Los Angeles, or browse our picks for the best food in Los Angeles.