The Tasting Kitchen, one of Venice’s most beloved restaurants, is officially back on Abbot Kinney, with original chef Casey Lane once again running the show. After a multi-year hiatus to rebuild the dining room and bar, guests returned this week to a room that still centers on the restaurant’s iconic olive tree. Lane’s ingredient-driven pastas now share space with new live-fire dishes on the relaunched menu.
According to Time Out, the restaurant operated from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. during its opening week and, beginning July 20, planned to open Wednesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. The publication reports that the team expects to shift to a full seven-day schedule with late-night weekend hours in August.
What’s new in the kitchen
“The idea is a restoration, not a rehabilitation,” Lane told Eater LA as he returned to the menu he first set in 2009. Eater notes that the team reconfigured the line and installed a Josper oven for charcoal-and-wood cooking, pairing longtime favorites like mackerel and pastas with new live-fire dishes and a $150 chef’s-choice tasting.
Bar and design
The bar program is led by Blake Antrobus, who previously worked on Dominique Crenn’s Monsieur Dior and with the Manzke team, while the space was reimagined by Matt Winter of M Winter Design. As Time Out points out, the redesign leans on hand-troweled plaster, reclaimed marble and vintage pieces, with the original olive tree still anchoring the room as a living bridge between past and future.
After the 2023 fire
The reopening follows a fire at the Abbot Kinney space on March 12, 2023, a fact documented in court filings about inspections and insurance claims. Those records and local reporting indicate that the Tasting Kitchen team spent the intervening years securing permits and overseeing reconstruction before this summer’s return.
Reservations and walk-in bar seats are available; the restaurant is taking bookings through its official page and through OpenTable, per The Tasting Kitchen. The dining room at 1633 Abbot Kinney Blvd is once again welcoming a mix of longtime locals and new visitors.
For Abbot Kinney, the Tasting Kitchen’s return restores a touchstone of the boulevard’s dining identity and promises fresh late-night energy once the full schedule lands. Expect a blend of old-guard fans and curious newcomers crowding the bar as the restaurant settles back into Venice’s summer rhythm.
