Let's Do Lunch

Son of a Gun, Akasha, and BLD Help Change Hollywood’s Power-Lunch Landscape

Money, Power, Respect: Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of Son of a Gun
Money, Power, Respect: Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of Son of a Gun Photo: Son of a Gun

The N.Y. Times may have had some weak sauce suggestions for grabbing both power and lunch in Manhattan yesterday, but today The Hollywood Reporter nails the same subject in L.A., leaving a few surprises in the wake. Asking high-caliber CEOs and executives where steak sandwiches and major figure dotted-lines are crossing these days, the industry trade updates the city on 25 of its juiciest midday hangouts, a list that veers a little cooler than one might expect, specifically thanks to the industry’s younger suits.

“The once-narrow hierarchy of lunch meccas has become more diffuse, with younger players muscling into the top tier, challenging the established bastions,” THR writes about the shift in the landscape that adds on to expected favorites like Grill on the Alley, Polo Lounge, and Mr. Chow with places like Son of a Gun, BLD, and Akasha.

Along the way we learn that Ellen DeGeneres considers Katsu-ya’s sushi the best “on the globe,” that Kate Mantillini and Mozza are still better bets for worthy star-sighting than the Ivy, that the agents at CAA abandoned Craft when Tom Colicchio left their side, and that you can catch pretty much every member of the Arquette clan going organic at Cafe Gratitude.

Hollywood’s 25 Top Power Lunch Restaurants [THR]

Son of a Gun, Akasha, and BLD Help Change Hollywood’s Power-Lunch Landscape