Chef Tim Hollingsworth and BJ Novak are bringing ChainFest, an expansion of their gourmet chain offerings at Virgil Village’s Chain, back to Los Angeles on October 5, 2024 at Row DTLA. This year’s lineup includes dishes from KFC, Red Robin, Domino’s, Krispy Kreme, Red Lobster and more. ChainFest will also revive Los Angeles’ popular chicken dish Koo Koo Roo before its permanent reopening.

Tickets start at $100 and include samples from each vendor; an unlimited VIP option is also available for $400. Tickets go on sale Friday, August 23 at 10 a.m. PST (pre-sales are available by registering on the ChainFest website). Chain began as a pop-up in 2022 and quickly took the city by storm with its chef-designed takes on fast food from popular chains like Jack in the Box, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut. The pop-up opened a permanent space in Virgil Village in January 2024 in partnership with New York-based Pop-Up Bagels.

A new menu at the Coco Club by Chef Chris Sayegh

Coco Club, a rooftop restaurant at Beacon by Sonder in Santa Monica, has unveiled a new late-summer menu from Chef Chris Sayegh, featuring dishes like a fried chicken sandwich, red snapper tacos and a vanilla panna cotta.

El Gato Negro hosts a house party

Pizza pop-up El Gato Negro is collaborating with Biite Club for a house party on August 24. Chefs Travis Matoesian and Alan Rudoy will serve mezze like baba ghanoush and green garlic hummus, as well as batata haerra (spiced confit potatoes) and lahmajun pies. A ticket gets you unlimited bites of everything, plus beer from Big Noise.

A popular vegetarian restaurant in Koreatown is reopening with meat on the menu

Olivia in Koreatown will reopen on August 21 after a brief hiatus. Once the restaurant resumes operations, it will serve some of its vegetarian favorites, and for the first time, it will also offer pizza with meat toppings. This isn’t the first formerly meat-free restaurant to add animal products to its menu this year. In April, popular plant-based bistro Sage announced it would add meat and dairy to its menu.

Two long-standing stands of the Original Farmers Market are closing

Bryan’s Pit BBQ and China Depot have closed at the Original Farmers Market. The market announced the closure in an Instagram post on Aug. 20 that included a statement from the Chang family, which owned both restaurants. In the statement, the family thanked longtime customers and said they were moving on to a “new chapter” and “new adventures.”