Birdie G’s, the lauded Santa Monica restaurant the place Midwestern meets Jewish meets Californian delicacies, will shut on the finish of the yr. Chef-owner Jeremy Fox cites the restaurant’s location and sizable footprint, together with years of financial setbacks, as contributing components.
As with lots of L.A.’s restaurant closures in 2025, a collection of occasions that included the pandemic, inflation and entertainment-industry strikes led to the choice. Drastic drops in enterprise following the close by Palisades hearth in January “felt like the nail in the coffin,” mentioned Fox, who can be chef-partner of the restaurant Rustic Canyon.
In 2025 the weeks following the fireplace felt like a repeat of COVID-19, he mentioned: No clients got here in to dine, and Fox and his staff didn’t know whether or not they need to furlough workers till enterprise picked up once more. Fox estimates income fell by 80% throughout that point.
“That was a bloodbath, how much money we lost,” Fox mentioned. “It was an ungodly amount of money. It was that bad.”
Fox opened Birdie G’s in June 2019 with companions Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan, house owners of the Rustic Canyon Household restaurant group. The thought was a gourmand spin on chain eating places, however finished at a better degree: Approachable however still-creative delicacies might be seen via the lens of his Midwestern and Jap European Jewish roots, and make the most of high-quality, seasonal components.
He didn’t envision Birdie G’s as a haute vacation spot however “the friendliest, kindest restaurant in town.” Named for his daughter, Birdie, and grandmother Gladys, it launched to rave opinions and served relish trays brimming with pickled native produce, a sweet-tangy chicken-liver mousse toast with caramelized onion-Manischewitz jam and roe-dotted pierogi.
It landed on the L.A. Occasions 101 record of finest eating places a number of years in a row (and presently sits at No. 52); acquired recognition from the Michelin Information; and garnered glowing opinions, with L.A. Occasions Meals critic Invoice Addison calling it “Santa Monica’s hottest restaurant of the year” in 2019.
However the years since have proved troublesome to maintain.
Outside eating at Birdie G’s contained in the Bergamot Station complicated.
(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Occasions)
Birdie G’s has 180 seats unfold throughout 5,000 sq. toes within the mixed-use complicated referred to as Bergamot Station.
Preliminary plans for the buildings included a boutique resort and a number of extra eating places, extra outlets and a parking construction. Opening there made sense in 2019: The economic sector reminded Fox of the Arts District, and the uncooked house with giant home windows and stone partitions felt ripe for his long-planned restaurant.
However after the pandemic the complicated’s buildout slowed, and the restaurant’s lack of parking — with $18 valet usually serving as the one possibility for company — additionally deterred enterprise, Fox mentioned.
“I’ve definitely been fighting with my inner monologue for several years, wondering why things weren’t picking up, why things weren’t connecting, and there was definitely a lot of self-doubt,” Fox mentioned. “But I honestly think that we could have been the most perfect restaurant and it still wouldn’t have made a difference, with where we were located.”
Fox mentioned the fires decimated enterprise at the beginning of 2025. Lots of the restaurant’s company reside within the Palisades and surrounding areas, based on the chef-owner. He additionally cites a lower in tourism.
This yr he’s tried new avenues to attract clients into Birdie G’s, comparable to leaning much more towards consolation meals and including a lauded burger in addition to brunch. Whereas they helped, the chef added, it wasn’t sufficient.
Birdie G’s chef-owner Jeremy Fox, left, and former chef de delicacies, Brittany Cassidy, in 2019.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Occasions)
Although he’d been weighing the choice to shut because the begin of the yr, he held off on account of glimmers of hope. One month the sprawling restaurant’s seats would all be crammed; the next, gross sales would drop by 40% for no discernible motive.
So now, with simply over three months till closing, Fox and the restaurant’s different co-owners plan to bid adieu in fashion with extra experimentation along with the extra acquainted set menu: “What’s the worst that could happen, we go out of business?”
“I’m hoping that the people who are coming in are ready to celebrate Birdie G’s will be open to some more adventurous things: the whims of the kitchen and what we can do.”
They’ve begun including extra each day specials, together with house-made charcuterie and sausages and different recipes from Fox’s latest cookbook, “On Meat.” He hopes to supply more-ambitious large-format dishes, in addition to extra shellfish. Visitors can anticipate one remaining run of the restaurant’s fan-favorite Hanukkah collection, 8 Nights, when one visiting chef and one native chef put together a brand new menu every night time.
A signature dish of lamb a la Saless at Birdie G’s.
(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Occasions)
A lot of the workers selected to stay on via the top of the yr, and a few of the restaurant’s alumni will return for visitor shifts and particular appearances.
And who is aware of, Fox, mentioned, possibly 2025 gained’t be the final of Birdie G’s eternally.
“I love Birdie G’s and I believe in it,” he mentioned, “so I’m hoping that there’ll be a chance for it to pop up again somewhere, somehow.”
Birdie G’s is situated at 2421 Michigan Ave. in Santa Monica, open Tuesday to Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 9:30 p.m.
