‘The Village’ in Studio City, CA

On July 19, Chef Frank Leon of Bokado, La Loggia, and Next Door restaurants, opened his latest and most delicious dining endeavor: The Village, a gastropub in Studio City, CA.

According to their press release, Chef Frank “sought the advice of La Loggia and Next Door’s loyal, young-Hollywood patrons, including Jessica and Ashley Simpson, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Shia LaBeouf, and Ashley Tisdale. From those conversations, The Village was born.”

Here’s what Eater L.A. had to say (yes, they’re getting great press already!):

“Cocktails and beer are listed on chalkboards throughout the venue, all specialty drinks were named after American authors known for their boozy habits. The Rum Diary is made with rum, Applejack, maple syrup, lemon, orange, and peppermint; meanwhile Churchill is composed of Armagnac, orange brandy, egg white, raw agave, and nutmeg.”

Thirsty yet?

I was most honored to work on several projects for The Village, including a photo booth, menu design, and Grand Opening invite. 

Here’s the freshly completed photo booth, before it was transported to The Village. Thanks to Hayley at Photo Illusion for sending this snapshot!

Here’s the drinks side of the menu. Menus were printed on Kraft paper to fit with the intimate and carefree feel of the tavern.

You can’t have a Grand Opening without people! This invite gives a wink to the chalkboards inside The Village that list menu items. I wanted the invite to give the guest the feeling that The Village is a cozy and fun place to spend an evening. I’m happy to report that they were so happy with the invite that they plan on using this design for all future invites and announcements.

What was wonderful about working on The Village was first and foremost, their people. A great restaurant can’t open successfully without great people. They communicated what they were looking for while giving me the right amount of creative freedom.

I also loved the rustic-yet-sexy approach of the place. This allowed me to go with a simple and clean direction that had a nod to the relaxed personality of this hot Hollywood destination. 

One disadvantage of having great clients on the West Coast is that since I’m in the Midwest, I miss out on fabulous events like these! I can’t wait for my next visit to L.A. to run down the cocktail list and get my ‘Literary Lesson’ from The Village.

If you find yourself cruising around that area, let me know what you had to drink and eat and describe it to me in great, excruciatingly torturous detail, so I can drool until I can make my own visit!