15 FOREVER...

15 is a welcome addition to Echo Park

From the very first moment we saw the restaurant 15, a recent addition to the vibrant Echo Park dining scene, we simply loved it. The exterior is deeply darkly, deliciously, chocolate brown... A new landmark in Echo Park, a new destination for diners and an eye-catching confectionery box merely hinting at the delights within.

One of three partners in 15, Rick Huschitt, was gracious enough to take time from his hectic schedule for a quick Q&A with the Chamber Website.

Q: What brought you to Echo Park to open 15?
Rick: We came to echo park because one of our partners bought the buildings behind the restaurant. The tenants of the previous restaurant wanted out of their lease, we were in the right place at the right time and decided to take over...

Q. Do you have a history in the restaurant business?
Rick: We had a restaurant in Redondo Beach together, and we've worked together at the Palace, the Mayan and the Century Club over the past 18 years.

Q. Why is it called 15?
Rick: We decided to call it 15 because 15 is our lucky number.

Q: The exterior is inspired, we do think it is audacious, like Ed Ruscha's Chocolate Room turned inside out and plonked down on lower Echo Park Avenue. But what of the cool and relaxing interior...
Rick: Yes, we wanted a warm, comfortable feeling inside. To achieve that, we used neutral colors and light wood floors. We have green wood and green paints. We certainly didn't want to be intimidating... But we did want it look nice for people...

Q. What about your menu... What's hot in Echo Park, what are the Echo Park favorites?
Rick: One of the partners is our Chef, Alex. He wanted a fresh, clean menu. We call it New American. The menu is compiled of old favorites with some modern twists. Nearly everything is fresh. We order local and organic products when they are available. We try to stay local as much as we can and would rather serve lamb from Sonoma than ship it over from New Zealand... Similarly, our wine list has only American wines, 95% of which are from California. We love our brothers and sisters from France and Italy but we'd rather keep the money here and again save the gas and avoid the pollution from shipping products from Europe - especially since we do have some of the finest wines in the world here.

What do our customers love? Well, the 15@15 is popular. We serve a three-coarse meal for $15 and we do this everyday until 6:30pm. We wanted to make our food affordable to our neighbors, some of our crowd favorites are the kobe burger, and we have 4 kinds of mac n' cheese the regular, the jalapeno, the bacon and the duck con-fit and foire gras mac, my favorite!

Q. You quickly became active in the Chamber of Commerce, can you briefly discuss what you regard as their value to a business person in Echo Park...
We've been very pleasantly surprised by how kind and supportive our neighborhood, and the Echo Park Chamber of Commerce has been. Interacting with other businesses is good. When we get slammed with reservations, (which Rick recommends for the weekends), we send guests over to our friends at Masa, another Echo Park favorite. We'd like to add a big thank you to everyone that has been here, and we look forward to meeting you in the future if you haven't!

To make a reservation, call 213-481-0454
15 is open Monday - Thursday from 5 to 11, Friday and Saturday 5 til 12, though the kitchen closes one hour before we do. We offer our $15 three course meal, the 15@15 until 6.30pm daily.
We do have an open-air smoking patio in the back.
Located at: 1320 Echo Park Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90026

website: www.restaurant15.com

paul

this story...

recent stories

archive