LA Heavyweights Jon & Vinny Head for Beverly Hills, Studio City, and the East Coast

It’s a red sauce takeover in Los Angeles, with not one but two new Jon & Vinny’s restaurant projects hitting different parts of the city this year. Add in the group’s existing locations, from the Fairfax original out to Brentwood and (more recently) down to View Park’s Slauson stretch, and it’s more apparent than ever that Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo have the city at their fingertips.

First up for expansion is Beverly Hills, with the guys opening inside an older brick building at 454 N. Bedford Drive along with partner, collaborator, and wine savant Helen Johannesen. That’s per the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce and confirmed by the Jon & Vinny’s team, who say that this new location should be the first to arrive in 2022. What’s more, the space will offer room for a standalone Helen’s wine bar, something the group has long wanted to add to their arsenal. The other Jon & Vinny’s outlets currently only offer a wine room for take-home bottle sales and on-site drinking, but no standalone wine bar area to showcase Johannesen’s considerable skills. While there is no firm timetable for opening yet, this will be the first in the 2022 lineup — and a massive addition to what is already one of LA’s hottest dining neighborhoods right now.

Following Beverly Hills, fans in the Valley are finally getting their wish with a likely new Jon & Vinny’s project slated to open along Moorpark Street in Studio City, just around the corner from Tujunga Avenue. The previous tenant is all boarded up and an ABC license is pending for the property, but word is that there are still some paperwork considerations underway that could slow down the overall opening timeline. Assuming the good graces of Los Angeles’s many permitting offices, expect a Jon & Vinny’s to open by the end of the year, complete with the usual light blonde wood and all-day menu as the others — though things are not 100 percent settled at the moment.

And, finally, rumor has it that Shook, Dotolo, and Johannesen are plotting a move to a busy restaurant city on the East Coast next, though leasing details are still in negotiation stages. Not that Angelenos need to get excited about a Jon & Vinny’s that hugs the Atlantic; by the end of the year, Los Angeles will have plenty of pizza, pasta, and wine right here at home.

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