Old Hardware Meets New American

Laurel Hardware

What happens when you take a former hardware store, renovate it, inject a new American menu and add a killer cocktail list? The answer is pandemonium. Phil Howard’s latest WeHo offering Laurel Hardware has been the talk of the town since its July opening, and with the A+ team behind the project it’s easy to see how they got it so right.

While the vintage façade remains intact, the Sam Marshall-redesigned, 3,500 square foot rustic interior has been divided into several spaces – a white tile and wooden table-filled front room facing Santa Monica Boulevard; a back area housing the bar, counter stools, communal tables and booths; and a verdant rear garden that’s proven a hit with the uber-hip summer style set.

Chef Mario Alberto, of Freddy Smalls and Lazy Ox fame, provides the fresh, farm-to-table menu, featuring a selection of small plates, pizzas (like the signature hatch chili and goats cheese pie), and ‘others’, a.k.a. coconut and Thai basil pei mussels, apple cider pork belly, and LH’s namesake burger amongst, well, others. Hotel Shangri-La alum Cole Apodaca’s cocktail list pairs perfectly with bright and airy surrounds, with blends like Gangster (Rain Cucumber Vodka, watermelon, crushed ice) and Tuscan Sunset (Bombay Sapphire, Aperol, Thai basil, peppercorn) just aching to be sipped under the swaying olive trees.