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Café Gratitude's antipasto platter. (Jiro Schneider)

The inspired plant-based culinary scene in Los Angeles continues to heat up with the highly anticipated opening of Café Gratitude‘s third Southern California restaurant at the Yards at One Santa Fe. Located in Downtown’s burgeoning Arts District, the neighborhood dining destination will be at home among a bevy of curated shops, restaurants and community art spaces within the mixed-use development. To coincide with the Grand Opening on Sunday, March 29, Executive Chef Dreux Ellis will debut a slew of dinner-specific dishes that reflect the all-organic restaurant’s commitment to responsible sourcing and dining by the seasons. The thoughtfully-composed menu items will also be available at Café Gratitude’s sister restaurants in Larchmont Village and Venice.

“We are humbled by the opportunity to celebrate Café Gratitude’s fourth anniversary in Los Angeles with the opening of a new restaurant in Downtown, where so much is happening in terms of both dining and cultural arts,” says Lisa Bonbright, CEO of the Café Gratitude Southern California. “We couldn’t ask for a better community with our new neighbors at One Santa Fe and look forward to planting roots and growing our restaurant within this gorgeous development.”

“We are so pleased to bring such a unique dining experience to the Arts District,” stated Bill McGregor, President, McGregor Brown. “We believe that Café Gratitude complements the community perfectly and truly enhances our current tenant mix.”

Like Café Gratitude Larchmont Village and Venice, the new Downtown digs will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, daily, as well as fresh pressed organic juices that are also available as part of the restaurant’s chef-curated cleanse program. Menu items named after affirmations like “I Am Grateful” are demonstrative of the restaurant’s philosophy to cultivate a supportive environment for guests, a core part of Café Gratitude’s original founding in the Bay Area in 2004.

Go-getters can start their morning with Gratitude favorites like the “Open-Hearted” buckwheat-flax pancakes, “Bonita” breakfast taco plate and the tongue-and-cheek “Crunchy” housemade raw granola, or grab freshly baked gluten-free pastries and doughnuts, Stumptown coffee, housemade almond milk tea lattes and nutrient-dense elixirs to-go. Come lunch, diners can savor seasonal specials and craveable classics on the All-Day menu that spotlights produce sourced from local farms, as well as Café Gratitude’s Founders Terces & Matthew Engelhart’s Be Love Farm in Vacaville. From the “Ecstatic” oven-roasted brussels sprouts with maple miso glaze, to the “Celebrating” collard spring rolls, to the “Yo Soy Fuerte” Mexican torta, to the restaurant’s signature “Whole” macrobiotic grain bowl, Chef Dreux Ellis’ menu offers a compelling and elevated twist on traditional plant-based fare that also honors the integrity of the ingredients spotlighted.

This conscientious approach will be mirrored in the new dinner-specific items that will be available in addition to the All-Day menu starting at 5:00 p.m, when the lights turn down and friends, couples and residents can stop in for a more leisurely dining experience. Appetizers include the “Abundant” Artisanal Antipasto Plate with cultured macadamia cheese with white truffle and other accoutrements, the spring-centric “Fresh” Grilled Asparagus with creamy hempseed hollandaise sauce, and “Dynamic” garnet yam and cauliflower samosas. Diners can then transition into heartier plates, like the new “Giving” ancient grain flatbread featuring einkorn and kamut grains, judiciously layered with seasonal toppings that will change nightly. Other offerings include the “Raw Enchiladas” featuring a spinach tortilla dressed with pumpkin seed and walnut chorizo, and the “Bountiful” gluten-free quinoa pasta sautéed with braised cauliflower, curly kale, and a luxurious cashew cream sauce.

Diners can also put their fate into Chef Ellis’ capable hands for the evening, and opt for the new three-course Prix Fixe Chef’s Tasting Menu. To pair with these wares, diners can sip on suggested wine pairings, spritzers or housemade sodas from Jason Eisner, the Beverage Director at sister restaurant Gracias Madre in West Hollywood. Organic wine and beer will also be available.

Like with Café Gratitude Venice and Gracias Madre, Designer Wendy Haworth oversaw the design of the sleek 4,200 square-foot-space, creating an aesthetic that is both bright and welcoming, a reflection of the community-oriented ethos behind the restaurant. Muted tones and patterns are incorporated throughout to cultivate a calming, relaxing environment to gather for an inspiring meal. Reclaimed oak panels and handmade tiles made by Fireclay bring further nuance to the space with the work of local artisans similarly interwoven into the restaurant’s dynamic design. Eclectic touches include handmade ceramic pendants above the bar from Heather Levine, encaustic cement bathroom and patio tiles by Kismet, sconces by Atelier de Troupe, and wood floors by Universal Hardwood in Venice.

With its 8 a.m. opening on March 29 at 300 South Santa Fe Avenue, Suite A, Los Angeles, California, 90012, Café Gratitude will join an eclectic, curated mix of restaurants, shops and spaces that are also planned for the Yards at One Santa Fe, including a 99-seat theater and a 2,000-square-foot gallery, skin-and hair-care apothecary Malin + Goetz, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, and the Manhattan Beach-based GROW Market. The restaurant will be open from 8 a.m. – 10 p.m., daily. For more information on the development, visit www.osfla.com.

For more information on Café Gratitude, visit cafegratitude.com or call (213) 929-5580.

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