Marissa Hermer's Chez Mia Opens on Melrose

“I've never heard people talk about a restaurant like they spoke about Ago,” says restaurateur Marissa Hermer of the celebrity haunt Robert De Niro opened on the corner of Melrose and La Cienega in 1997, with chef-partner Agostino Sciandri. “We were just walking around here and saw this space, and we also heard so many incredible stories.”

Over its 22-year-run, the intimate space that shuttered in 2019 hosted premieres and Oscar parties, and served as a bold-faced-name meeting ground for guests like Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Elizabeth Taylor. “Everyone missed it,” says Hermer. “I have the opportunity to bring back the magic in a new way, but still honor this hallowed ground.”

A native of Laguna Beach, Hermer worked in New York’s PR world with famed Studio 54 and Gramercy Park Hotel founder Ian Schrager before linking with British hospitality guru Matt Hermer. After years in London — where Hermer starred on Bravo’s Ladies of London reality show (2014-17), ran restaurants and had three kids — the Boujis Group partners and then-spouses moved to Los Angeles eight years ago and discovered a glaring need in their Pacific Palisades neighborhood.

“As foodies, we liked to go out and have a glass of wine, but there was only one liquor license [we knew of] in the Palisades — Pearl Dragon,” she says. “And especially coming from London, where my favorite thing to do was have a long lunch and a glass of wine [in a place where] kids [can] run around.” Through friends, they met real estate developer Rick Caruso, who’d been looking for a local restaurant for the Palisades Village shopping center he was constructing. “And so, the Draycott happened,” she says of their family-friendly California-inspired brasserie.

Next, Hermer sought an elevated place to dance with a luxurious design. “In London and Europe, there were all these fabulous places where you can go out and kick your heels up and let your hair down,” says Hermer. “I wanted the luxe — velvet and beautiful stained glass, hand-blown pendants and chandeliers. I was missing that European experience — the menu and the aesthetics, that visual eye candy while I was eating. I wanted to create a place that I wanted to get dressed up for.”

Her swanky coastal European-inspired fine dining restaurant Olivetta on Melrose Avenue near Doheny Drive attracted an immediate following for its Italian-leaning Mediterranean dishes drawing from fresh produce and inventive cocktails. But also, for its sleek, vibrant décor — with rich mural-like wallpaper and fabric-lined ceilings — and sophisticated scene. “We opened Olivetta [in January of] 2020, and then we had three months [with] a line out the door,” Hermer recalls. “We had every major celebrity and Angeleno in. I was like, ‘Oh my god. This is it!,’ and then the pandemic happened.”

After temporarily moving the concept to the nearby Kimpton La Peer Hotel’s indoor-outdoor restaurant space — where Boujis Group also later ran the lively European beach club Issima for a few years — in 2021, Hermer was able to move Olivetta back to Melrose Avenue.

During the pandemic, the partners also secured the Ago venue just down the road from Olivetta, at 8478 Melrose Ave. — as well as permission to convert the see-and-be-seen valet area into a sprawling patio. “There was this little terrace, and you'd see [the procession of] everyone's cars … their Rolls-Royces and Ferraris,” Hermer recalls. “So we took out the whole valet and we were able to do outdoor dining here. The magic of Ago was really reserved to a very small indoor space, but we've been able to create this garden oasis.”

For the South of France-inspired Chez Mia — an acronym derived from Hermer’s full maiden name, Marissa I. Anshultz — Boujis Group teamed with Kurt Seidensticker in what marks the Vital Proteins founder's first restaurant venture. “Most of my summers are spent in the French Riviera, where I’ve made many memories with friends over delicious Mediterranean cuisine,” says Seidensticker. “When Marissa approached me, I was excited to partner with her to bring the light, fresh fare and fun ambiance of the South of France to a city that I love. I’m looking forward to creating an environment that embodies the inviting and social nature of many memories I’ve made during summers spent abroad.”

Tom Parker of Fettle, also behind their other restaurants, conjured the coastal design. “He's like that perfect marriage, because he lives in Venice, but he also is British,” says Hermer. “He really understands how to marry the California lifestyle with the European sensibility.”

The nearly 9,000 square-foot-space debuting Oct. 8 boasts a cheerful outdoor patio awash in green and white tiled floors, chic patterned banquettes and festive “strawberry meringue” umbrellas. A big open wraparound bar has holiday resort vibes, and seating areas can be sectioned off to accommodate their ample events or for VIPs. “In London, everyone wants to have a private room that's completely sectioned off,” Hermer notes. “In L.A., you want to be seen, see who else is there and feel that energy.”

Inside, a bright but intimate area houses a bar and dining room — as well as a DJ booth and a wine cellar that will offer a large selection of European labels. A bathroom nods to Hermer’s favorite hotel, Il Pellicano, with vertical yellow and white stripes, and another hotel, La Colombe D’or in St-Paul de Vence, offered artistic inspiration. “It's in Provence, and the hotel is where Matisse and Picasso and Calder and all of these incredible artists paid for their stays with their artwork," she says.

Hermer’s friend Justine Carroll created artwork inspired by classic painters — including a painting of a Calder sculpture reflecting in pool water from La Colombe D’or; Matisse-inspired stained-glass windows Hermer had seen in a chapel; and a version of Matisse’s “Portrait of a Lady” print, for which Hermer posed. “[Chez Mia] is really inspired by these places, but it's also my experience of these places,” says Hermer, who sought to give the restaurant a personal touch. “Because it's not the place — it's how you feel once you're there.”

Whereas Olivetta is more of an evening destination, Chez Mia will serve Provençal-inspired fare for dinner, lunch and weekend brunch. “It is very South of France — all very local, simple produce, which really lends itself to the California audience,” Hermer says. “Small plates, super fresh salads, very light. Less is more — it’s how you cook it. We have a Branzino, steak tartare, a salmon tartare, a dover sole. A gazpacho, which is very Med, on the lunch menu.”

The craft cocktails, which will be in the vein of Olivetta’s, will include a Hugo Spritz — “which is like the Aperol spritz of the South of France,” Hermer notes. “It’s made with Prosecco, vodka and elderflower, so it's very light and bright.” They’ll nod to the kumquat trees around Il Pellicano with La Mia. “I love a kumquat: It's bright and flavorful and tart, and always makes me think of holiday. And what makes me think of L.A. and California more than a margarita? Nothing. So we've created a kumquat margarita, which is really the perfect synergism between the Med and California.”

Following the October debut of Chez Mia, the Boujis Group will prepare for its next project — Bar Issi restaurant, opening in January at Palm Springs’ new Thompson Hotel. “What we're creating there is really similar to an Issima: It's fun and fabulous and irreverent and really over the top,” says Hermer. “Imagine, like, Iris Apfel is in Season 2 of White Lotus , and at the Madonna Inn. It's sort of more is more, which is her tagline. It's over the top and wild and silly and can be a little messy, but that's Palm Springs to me.”

Hermer will always entertain new venues when opportunities arise. “We're always looking,” says the restaurateur, whose European-inspired concepts are coveted for the ambiance as much as the food. “I love the mix, between the interiors, the music, the artwork, the food [and] the cocktails,” she says. “It's the marriage of bringing everything together to create this incredible experience that is like a divertisement from your real life.”