Kassi Rooftop Venice Beach

Kassi Club Opens at Hotel Erwin in Venice With Unbeatable Beachside Views | Eater LA

"Opening on Friday, July 4 on the prime rooftop of Hotel Erwin, this newly remolded rooftop restaurant comes from the Wish You Were Here group, which operates Elephante in Santa Monica and Belles Beach House in Venice; it first opened on West Third Street in 2019 before closing and resurfacing in Las Vegas’s Virgin Hotels, where it morphed into more of a party-like Italian American restaurant that befits Vegas, but the menu will return to its original Greek and Eastern Mediterranean flavors in Venice, operating from lunch to fairly late. On the rooftop, umbrellas encircle an elevated patch of clipped greenery, with lounge seating and dinner tables accommodating 185 diners at a time, and swaying palm trees and the shoreline provide panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean while skateboarders, cyclists, and performing dancers thrive on the concrete expanse a few blocks away on the Venice Boardwalk. Starters include takes on Greek classics such as a spanakopita quesadilla, fried zucchini chips, crispy saganaki with Fresno chile jam, and a cucumber-tomato-feta salad; familiar mezzes like hummus and tzatziki come with za’atar-sprinkled flat bread. Five-ounce portions of skewers feature lamb meatballs with pomegranate molasses, beef tenderloin in red chermoula, and harissa honey chicken, and “the food options are limited enough that decision fatigue shouldn’t settle in.” Drinks are as central as the vistas: shaken sippers like the Oracle of Delphi mix tequila with watermelon, mazzura, and cucumber, draft cocktails such as a honeydew thyme paloma are intended to help bartenders churn out boozy drinks, white and red wines lean toward Greek origins, and a Bondi Brewing Co. lager “hints at Mathers’ and Lim’s upbringings in Australia.” The operation is from the Wish You Were Here team, founded by Nick Mathers and helmed by chef Thomas Lim, and should fit seamlessly into the Venice restaurant milieu as a relaxed, easygoing Greek-leaning spot with stunning vistas; it accepts reservations on OpenTable, and tickets to the July 4 opening party are available on OpenTable for $40 each. Open Sunday to Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and until 12 a.m. Thursday to Saturday." - Matthew Kang