New Look, Menu and Show for Rockwell: Table & Stage

The new Rockwell: Table & Stage/Photo: Alen Lin

By Lesley Balla

First there was Vermont, the Los Feliz restaurant known for its friendly New American fare. Then Rockwell was added, a bi-level clubby spot in the back. Last year, owners Wayne Elias and Chris Diamond transformed the extra room in front into a cabaret space called Barre. Someone finally got it in their head that it's really all one space, and after some cosmetic changes, renamed the entire joint Rockwell: Table & Stage. Bigger room, one menu throughout, no more confusion.

Other than the name, the most prominent new feature is the front of the venue - the wall separating Vermont's dining room and Barre has been knocked down, creating one larger space for the stage, and for dinner and a show. Barre served as home base for For the Record, where stage and screen actors sing soundtracks from popular movies. Part of the charm was that the actors walked on the bar, chairs, sat in your lap and shimmied through a packed room. It was common to knock knees with complete strangers sitting next to you. But having so much new space means more dancing, more singing and more room to comfortably eat tuna tartare jicama tacos, one of Rockwell's more delicious dishes.

A new menu launches throughout Rockwell this weekend, which means more salads, flatbreads and ambitious dishes like fried sand dabs, and there will be more cosmetic changes both inside and out throughout the summer. But this is a great start, especially since For The Record: Boogie Nights officially begins its two-month ode to Paul Thomas Anderson tonight. Make a night of it with Dirk Diggler hot dogs, Punch Drunk Love punch and Aimee Mann songs.


1714 N. Vermont Ave.; 323-661-6163 (ext. 20 for show tickets). For the Record: Boogie Nights runs every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night through August 4.