Some Big South LA Names Helped Reopen a Sofi-Adjacent Inglewood Bar | Eater LA

"After briefly shutting down in early August, Champ City Bar & Lounge reopened on August 9 under a new ownership group that includes original owner and Married to Medicine cast member Lia Dias plus Taco Mell’s Jermelle Henderson and Bleu Kitchen’s Calvin Johnson. The team completed a one-week conversion—applying paint, new light fixtures and TVs—while adding fresh cocktails, upping the menu, bringing in a new hookah provider and valet parking, and shifting the dress code upscale. I noted the menu was deliberately built to work from a small kitchen and features truffle parmesan wings, oxtail mac and cheese chili bites, chicken taquitos, pastrami on a toasted Italian roll with Monterey jack, shrimp ceviche, and a gumbo gouda dip inspired by Bleu Kitchen’s pot pies. Cocktails (put together by Roosterfish’s Julian Garroway Jr. and bartender Robert Bahena) include the hefty Inglewood tea—vodka, tequila, grapefruit juice, lime, and grenadine—and the boozy Sunni sidecar tribute. The bar, which opened in February 2020 and struggled through pandemic restrictions, is leaning into its one-and-a-half-mile proximity to SoFi Stadium and will adjust hours for concerts, NFL games and other events (roughly Tue–Sat 5 p.m.–midnight, with Fri–Sat to 2 a.m.; check Instagram)." - Mona Holmes