Cassia, the Santa Monica restaurant ‘colonizing the colonizers,’ set to close in February
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- Chef Bryant Ng and his wife, Kim Luu-Ng, opened Cassia, their celebrated restaurant, 10 years ago.
- Rising costs and setbacks such as entertainment-industry strikes and ongoing fires factored into their decision to close.
Next month, one of the most singular Asian restaurants in Los Angeles will close after nearly a decade in operation. Cassia — home of “sunbathing prawns,” bowls of creamy laksa and clay-oven flatbreads from chef Bryant Ng — will serve its blend of Chinese, Singaporean and Vietnamese dishes with French-brasserie flair until its final night on Feb. 22.
In a statement sent to The Times, owners Ng, Kim Luu-Ng, Zoe Nathan, Josh Loeb and Colby Goff cited a range of industry difficulties and occurrences that led to their decision: rising operational costs, sustained diminished business from the 2023 entertainment-industry strikes and, most recently, the city’s wildfires that destroyed thousands of lives, homes and businesses.
“We are not unique, but it’s been a challenge for sure,” the statement read. “While we’ve done our best to adapt, these circumstances have rendered us unable to continue to operate. Regarding the fires, we want to extend our deepest sympathies to everyone who has lost their homes or been affected by the recent destruction. It’s an unprecedented event that will reshape our city and the lives of so many people we know and care about for years to come.”
According to Ng the fires greatly hastened the owners’ decision to close, though the question of whether the restaurant could sustain was in consideration for the last year. The first “shift,” he said, occurred during the 2023 entertainment strikes, when their previously consistent business began to dip; in 2024, months were up and down, and “pretty hard to predict.”
“For us, since Cassia is such a large restaurant, when things shift, they tend to shift significantly and quickly in either direction,” Ng said in an email. “When things shift negatively, it’s a hard hit because of all our operations, admin, labor, [cost of goods sold] and occupancy costs. The fires really shortened our financial runway since many of our guests live in areas impacted by the recent fires. My heart goes out to them because of the livelihoods and homes that were lost.”
The closure of Cassia, a long-celebrated concept from the Rustic Canyon Family restaurant group, is one among a growing list in the last year. More than 100 notable restaurants and bars closed in the L.A. area in 2024, including the Santa Monica location of Sweet Rose Creamery, another Rustic Canyon Family operation (the original Brentwood outpost remains open). Multiple other restaurants such as Guerrilla Tacos, Lustig and Bar Monette announced their closures this month too.
Pot-au-feu is at the heart of the French kitchen; more than a beef soup, it is the enduring symbol of hearth and home, an emblem of a life well lived.
A multigenerational chef-restaurateur, Ng drew from his haute culinary experience as well as those of his family and the Vietnamese heritage of his wife, Luu-Ng. After emigrating from China, his grandparents operated Bai Hai, a Cantonese-Polynesian restaurant in Culver City in the 1950s, while his parents ran Wok Way Chinese restaurant in Northridge in the 1980s and ‘90s. Ng wove all of this and more into his white pepper crab, curries, lemongrass-glazed chicken, Sichuan-chile fried rice and satay.
That flavorful cultural melting pot, as well as Ng’s California background and perspective, is just one of a few reasons that L.A. Times Food’s general manager, Lauria Ochoa, tapped Cassia as the 2019 Gold Award winner.
“I love that Cassia’s food isn’t just Vietnamese or Asian, but Southern Californian,” she said at the time. “It embodies one of the big ideas behind the award — ‘expanding the notion of Southern California cooking.’ Fish sauce can be as important to the cuisine of Los Angeles as olive oil.”
In 2015, former L.A. Times Food critic Jonathan Gold wrote that “Ng, trained at the Cordon Bleu in Paris, is claiming the essence of French cooking as his own; colonizing the colonizers.”
Cassia appeared on the L.A. Times 101 Best Restaurants list many times, including the most recent 2024 guide, where Times Food columnist Jenn Harris wrote that “Ng has perfected his syncretic style of cooking, and every plate feels immensely personal.” It was named a best new restaurant by Bon Appétit, GQ and LA Weekly.
Before opening Cassia, Ng served as an opening chef at Pizzeria Mozza and helmed downtown Southeast Asian restaurant the Spice Table. In 2012, he was named one of Food & Wine’s best new chefs in the country.
Ng and Luu-Ng plan to open a new Chinese American restaurant called Jade Rabbit in Santa Monica that will feature more of a quick-and-casual format. The restaurant, Ng said, is slated for a spring opening.
As part of Food Bowl, May’s monthlong festival of food, dining and sustainability, the Los Angeles Times is presenting the third annual Gold Award to Bryant Ng and Kim Luu-Ng of Cassia.
“We will celebrate Chinese-American food,” Ng previously told The Times, “which is a unique cross-pollination of Chinese and American cuisines built out of necessity, hard work, creativity, perseverance and entrepreneurship of Chinese American immigrants.”
Meanwhile, the Rustic Canyon Family will continue to operate its restaurants across L.A. and in Ojai, including Birdie G’s, Rustic Canyon, Sweet Rose Creamery, Milo + Olive, Huckleberry Bakery & Cafe, the Dutchess and the Cassia-adjacent Ester’s Wine Shop & Bar.
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