Angeli Caffe to Close on January 9th After 27 Years

I have this crazy bifurcated life. My home here at KCRW is the center of my intellectual food life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But then there’s the other thing I’ve been doing for 27 years. And that would be cooking and feeding people our of my small place on Melrose, Angeli Caffe. It’s the part of me that thinks with my hands and likes taking care of people. So it’s with real sadness that I announced yesterday I will be closing Angeli January 9.

Below is the letter I wrote to all those who participated in the life of the restaurant…

After 27 wonderful years of being a part of the neighborhood and serving

the community, Angeli will be closing its doors after service finishes on

January 8. I join the Angeli staff in thanking all of you for

years of support, patronage, and friendship. You let us into your lives and

we became family.

We’ve watched you meet, date, get married, have kids, and send kids to

college. You’ve written lots of words at our tables and had fights about who

should direct and why this scene isn’t working. You’ve hid from employers

and lovers and then brought them in to meet us. You’ve had sex in the bathrooms

(thanks for that btw), gone into labor in front of the pizza oven and nearly

died from choking on a piece of Angeli bread. You’ve celebrated births,

bris(es?), innumerable birthdays from 1 to 90+, wedding and baby showers,

rehearsal dinners, going away, coming back and just because. In short, what

a long strange and wonderful trip it’s been in our tiny space. It’s been a voyage of mutual

respect and nurturing. We’ve fed you and in turn, you’ve supported a

constellation of extended families as they met, married had kids and sent

them to school.

We’ll be open every night for dinner until we close (including Sunday, the 1st, and Monday the 2nd).

Below are several links reporting on the closing:

LA Times

LA Weekly

mediabistro.com

laist.com