Abbot Kinney Has Quietly Rebuilt Itself. Here Is Where to Eat on It Now

Aug 27

3 min read

Five openings, one comeback from a fire, and a neighborhood festival returning after two years off.

Something has been happening on Abbot Kinney that never got a single headline, because it did not arrive all at once. Over roughly two years the boulevard has absorbed a run of new restaurants, welcomed back one it thought it had lost, and is about to get its street festival back. Casey Lane, who opened The Tasting Kitchen here in 2009 and reopened it last month, put it simply to Forbes: the street feels better than ever right now.

The Tasting Kitchen, 1633 Abbot Kinney Blvd

Reopened July 16 after a March 2023 fire closed it for three years, with founding chef Casey Lane back. The room now runs on charcoal and live fire, with a dual a la carte and tasting format and a bar program from Blake Antrobus, previously of Monsieur Dior and Bicyclette. The olive tree growing through the middle of the dining room survived. Dinner Wednesday through Sunday, 5 to 9 p.m., expanding to daily. Full write-up in The Tasting Kitchen Is Back on Abbot Kinney.

RVR, near Abbot Kinney and Santa Clara

Travis Lett's California izakaya, in the angular building that once held his MTN. Lett co-founded Gjelina in 2008 and Gjusta after it, sold his stake in 2019, and returned here in October 2024. The Los Angeles Times called it the best new restaurant in LA for vegetable lovers, and it landed on the New York Times Restaurant List in 2025.

Almost everything is a small plate, roughly $6 to $28. Yakitori over binchotan, gyoza skins and ramen noodles made in house, broths from heritage pork bones. No signage, just a single amber light above the door. Seventy-five seats, and reservations go weeks out.

Badmaash, 1616 Abbot Kinney Blvd

The Mahendro family opened their Venice dining room in March, converting a pickup window into a full restaurant in the space that held Yours Truly, Piccolo and Capri. It is the brand's third location and the first with a patio. The menu is not a copy of Downtown or Fairfax: alongside the chicken tikka poutine and the spiced lamb burger sit steak frites, whipped ricotta toast with tamarind and blood orange jam, and hamachi crudo treated with an Indian palate. More in Badmaash on Abbot Kinney.

San Damian, 1025 Abbot Kinney Blvd

Enrique Olvera's coastal Mexican marisqueria, where kanpachi al pastor comes off the fire with pineapple butter. It sits at the quieter southern end of the boulevard. Coverage in San Damian.

Coming: Truly Pizza, 1239 Abbot Kinney Blvd

The Dana Point pizzeria takes the old Greenleaf Kitchen and Cocktails space in late 2026. At 4,655 square feet and roughly 130 seats it will be one of the largest sit-down rooms on the street. Three-day fermented dough, 12-inch rounds and grandma-style squares from $19 to $30, plus house soft serve finished with olive oil and sea salt. More in Truly Pizza Is Bringing Its Micro-Blistered Crust to Abbot Kinney.

Still standing

Gjelina and Gjusta both carry on and remain the default recommendation for anyone visiting Venice for the first time. The older guard is part of why the new arrivals work: there is enough weeknight foot traffic to support a 130-seat room, which was not obviously true five years ago.

The festival returns September 27

The Abbot Kinney Festival, a forty-year neighborhood ritual, was called off in 2024 and again in 2025 while its all-volunteer board restructured. It returns Sunday, September 27, 2026, onto a street that has changed meaningfully since it last ran. Worth noting for planning: the Vegan Street Fair in Westwood falls the same day, covered in Vegan Street Fair Takes Over Broxton Avenue.

Practical notes

Parking: metered street parking along Abbot Kinney and the residential streets behind it. Weekend evenings fill by 6 p.m. The lots off Venice Boulevard are a reliable backup.
Book ahead: RVR runs weeks out. The Tasting Kitchen and Badmaash are easier but not walk-in guaranteed on weekends.
Walk it: San Damian to The Tasting Kitchen is about half a mile, which makes a drinks-then-dinner plan across two rooms workable.
First Fridays: the boulevard's monthly evening event still runs and shifts the parking math considerably.