Barbara Lazaroff Restaurant Design
The design of Chinois on Main
Wolfgang Puck and Barbara Lazaroff opened their second restaurant — Chinois on Main — in Santa Monica, California. Opened September 3, 1983, this design has withstood the test of time and is still home to Wolfgang Puck’s ground-breaking Asian-French cuisine.
Once again, this Wolfgang Puck original French-California-Japanese-Chinese ranks number one as the most popular restaurant in town, with cosmic design by Barbara Lazaroff. This “quintessential California restaurant” is called the “most original,” “most sophisticated” restaurant in Southern California, a “unique showplace.” ~Zagat Guide
Chinois cannot be ignored. In the town that invented the concept of restaurant-as-theater, this place caused quite a stir when it opened. ~GQ
Chinois is theater. And it’s no surprise, since its designer Barbara Lazaroff, designed stage settings in New York CIty. She has created a Fellini-esque fantasy of a Chinese restaurant in Chinois. California has not had a theatrical restaurant like this or, for that matter, has America. ~Hollywood Reporter
Chinois was Wolfgang Pucks’s first foray into Asian cooking, and the home of many of his trend-setting dishes. His scrumptious Asian-French cuisine was heightened by Barbara’s innovative and sensual backdrop of Asian inspired design.
Small and rectangular, Chinois posed a considerable restaurant design challenge.
Once a sufficient kitchen space was allotted, Barbara created a sequence of areas that tricked the eye including a skylight in the ceiling and an elaborate orchid window.
The feelings of balance and flow inspired the distinctive Chinois “energy waves” and yin-yang logo design, as well as many of the forms including the curvilinear entrance partition, undulating bar top, flowing door and window millions and the tile motifs.
With a modern take on the traditional Chinese color palette, Barbara infused Chinois in a sublime fuchsia, celadon, and black creating a relaxed, yet exotic environment. Chinois reflects Barbara’s feelings about space, color and texture both inside and out. Immediately recognizable, Chinois’ exterior floods Main Street Santa Monica with a bright pink neon glow crowned with a pagoda-like triangular cap.
I have a special relationship with Chinois: While it was being built, I spent months on the site, writing about what it takes to open a restaurant. I hung around so much that everybody forgot that I was there. I watched Barbara Lazaroff charm inspectors, fight with workmen and come close to having a nervous breakdown when the glass for the bar was cut the wrong way. And I watched Wolfgang Puck experiment with the menu, creating a new kind of Chinese-French-California hybrid cuisine.
Opening night was a hectic event: At 6 p.m. the painters were still painting, the electricians were still working and the cooks were on the verge of hysteria. At 7 there was still chaos. It seemed almost magical, but it all came together, and when the first guests walked in, they entered a serene fantasy of flowers and copper and chinoiserie. And they sat down to eat dishes like sautéed foie gras on pineapple in cinnamon sauce. They were charmed by duck, mushrooms and cilantro in Sichuan pancakes and amazed by “sashimi tempura.” The restaurant’s opening was an event; the place had an energy about it. To date, nobody has managed a successful imitation. Chinois is the restaurant that wrote the book on East-West cuisine.
~Ruth Reichl, LA Times restaurant reviewer
If the Land of Oz had a restaurant, it would probably look like Chinois – the host new L.A. dine-spot. The dazzling interior — a fantasy of mosaics work-of-art furniture and fixtures, imported Buddahs, cloisonné cranes — it the dream of artist Barbara Lazaroff. ~Vogue
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Chinois on Main
2709 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90405 USA
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It takes more than imagination and hope to see this — and turn it into this:
Here is the decor that diners enjoy as they savor Wolfgang’s unique Asian-twist meals.
Here’s some of what it took to create the look, feel, and environment. {foogallery}
Chinois on Main also has a private dining room available for events.
