Rocket riches could be fueling a sleepy Los Angeles space metropolis’s sudden curiosity in the finer issues.
El Segundo, the unassuming South Bay enclave best recognized for its proximity to LAX and a booming aerospace industry, is shortly rising as one of Southern California’s hottest eating locations — just months after space employer SpaceX’s blockbuster IPO famously minted 1000’s of in a single day millionaires.
While restaurants across struggling LA are dropping like flies, this sleepy coastal burg of roughly 17,000 residents is experiencing a culinary renaissance — with stylish natural wine bars, upscale eateries and buzzy pizza joints popping up around city.
EZPZ in El Segundo is one of the wildly widespread new spots that have opened in the sleepy South Bay metropolis. Instagram/@ezpz.la
SpaceX’s historic June stock market debut reportedly created an estimated 4,000 new millionaires among present and former workers, many of them with native ties. The company maintains a giant presence just next door in Hawthorne, even after transferring headquarters to Texas in 2024.
El Segundo is also home to roughly 100 smaller aerospace corporations, according to native officers — which have drawn a whopping $6 billion in enterprise capital, the California Post earlier reported.
Blüm Store-Bottles, Blossoms and Beautiful issues is pictured in El Segundo, where the sleepy South Bay metropolis is experiencing a eating increase as eating places in neighboring Los Angeles wrestle. Instagram/@blumsouthbay
Add it all up, and restaurateurs in El Segundo say business is hovering — straight into the stratosphere.
Among the latest arrivals is EZPZ, a stylish Brooklyn-inspired pizza joint that opened in June, serving up pies made with premium California ingredients and natural soft-serve ice cream. The restaurant comes from Hollywood producer Beau Flynn and his spouse, actress Marley Shelton Flynn.
“We’ve discovered that El Segundo is LA’s best-kept secret,” Flynn informed SFGATE after opening EZPZ.
Chef Jackson Kalb also opened Jaime Taqueria last yr, cementing the investment in the metropolis. Instagram/@jaimetaqueria
Part of the appeal is the metropolis’s welcoming angle towards small business, according to Mayor Chris Pimentel.
“We try to reduce friction,” Pimentel earlier informed the California Post. “It’s a whole city effort; this is a city that likes business.”
Vinoteca, a new natural wine bar tucked inside Blum, a wine and floral store situated along Pacific Coast Highway. Instagram/@blumsouthbay
El Segundo’s growing urge for food for more subtle eating has helped encourage Vinoteca, a new natural wine bar tucked inside Blum, a wine and floral store situated along Pacific Coast Highway. The intimate spot serves thoughtfully chosen wines alongside elevated bites like crudités and charcuterie.
“Natural wine was a little foreign for the South Bay, so we knew we needed a space for people to try all these interesting wines,” sommelier and Blum co-founder Julia Blyum informed SFGATE.
LA favorites smelling success in El Segundo are also dashing to stake their claim. Wine bar Barsha and Japanese pasta purveyor Unico are now there, while beloved breakfast taco mini-chain HomeState opened a location in September at the open-air retail vacation spot The Point.
Chef Jackson Kalb, who opened Italian restaurant Jame Enoteca in 2018, has watched the metropolis’s culinary cred grow, and his own business along with it. Kalb also opened Jaime Taqueria last yr, cementing the investment in the metropolis.
“The way I see things, the more great food we have in town, everyone wins,” Kalb informed SFGATE. “We’re doing better every year, too. We’ve expanded our first restaurant three times since we moved in.”