Pasadena Restaurant Bar Chelou Is Closing and the Eaton Fireplace Is Partially to Blame

After two years slinging progressive dishes, gathering awards and nationwide mentions, and establishing a eating vacation spot outdoors Outdated City Pasadena, chef Doug Rankin’s ground-breaking restaurant Bar Chelou will shut on February 16, 2025. Rankin determined to not prolong his lease, which expires on the finish of February. The chef tells Eater that Bar Chelou, which Eater LA named Finest New Restaurant in Los Angeles in 2023, will finally relocate to Denver, Colorado.

Rankin says a number of elements contributed to his determination to shut. Bar Chelou’s landlord requested Rankin to resume a five-year lease. Although Rankin credit them with being cooperative whereas he ran the restaurant, he was reluctant to decide to that lengthy of a interval.

Pasadena additionally shares a border with Altadena, a neighborhood tremendously impacted by the Eaton Fireplace. The devastating hearth killed 17 folks and destroyed 15,000 buildings within the space; many Altadena residents had been displaced or misplaced their properties. (Rankin’s mother and father had been displaced by the Palisades Fireplace that raged on the similar time.) Rankin says as much as 30 p.c of Bar Chelou’s regulars reside in Altadena. The restaurant, he says, maintained a busy tempo till January 7, when the Eaton Fireplace tore by way of Altadena. Although Bar Chelou was closed for under three days, when Rankin reopened on January 10, and within the weeks that adopted, enterprise started to lag — briefly, prospects weren’t coming in.

“We braced ourselves for a drop, figuring out we’d see a 20 to 30 p.c lower in enterprise,” says Rankin. “However in actuality, it was nearer to 50 p.c. I like this metropolis a lot and thought we’d be right here eternally. However it’s a must to learn the writing on the wall and lower your losses.”

Rankin opened Bar Chelou in January 2023. After he partnered with Entire Cluster Hospitality, Bar Chelou took over the previous Saso house subsequent door to the Pasadena Playhouse to arrange a menu that mixed his Los Angeles influences with basic French coaching whereas additionally melding in Spanish, French, and Asian flavors served on small and enormous plates. Bar Chelou’s signature clam toast and carrots râpées with coconut dressing, lime, peanuts, and skinny fried potatoes atop shredded carrots caught the discover of diners all through the Southland, even those that wouldn’t ordinarily make the trek to Pasadena for a meal.

In its opening yr, Bar Chelou made the Los Angeles Occasions 101 greatest restaurant record in 2023 and 2024, one among Eater’s 12 Finest New Eating places in America, and reward from the New York Occasions on its 25 Finest Eating places in Los Angeles Proper Now in 2023.

Although his eating room grew to become one among Pasadena’s hottest spots, loads of devotees adopted Rankin from his former Bar Restaurant in Silver Lake. Rankin additionally introduced over most of his Bar Restaurant kitchen staff, together with chef de delicacies Emilio Perez, his former pastry chef Raymond Morales (who now works at Wally’s in Beverly Hills), and sous chef Peton Johnson.

Earlier than Rankin strikes, he’ll prepare dinner in a pop-up capability all through Southern California, he says. Rankin finds inspiration proper now in Denver’s eating scene, noting Los Angeles cooks who efficiently opened new eating places, together with his former mentor, chef Ludo Lefebvre, who opened Chez Maggy in Denver in 2022. Although he plans to reopen Bar Chelou in Colorado, he nonetheless sees the potential for returning to the Los Angeles restaurant group down the road. Rankin says that almost all of his unique staff remains to be intact, besides a number of who moved on to initiatives extra aligned with their passions. He’s fast to credit score them for Bar Chelou’s success.

“Constructing the Bar Chelou model has been an unimaginable expertise and the idea will reside on. I’m so grateful to my companions and my staff and all people that’s been part of it thus far,” says Rankin.

Wonho Frank Lee