Located blocks away from Santa Monica City College, Nostalgia is a split venture that operates mostly as a bar/lounge with a substantial menu on its own.
Drawing from his time at Josiah Citrin’s upscale tasting menu restaurant Mélisse, Sayegh and co-chef Jared Ventura carefully construct dishes like branzino fish and chips, oysters with smoked furikake sabayon and pineapple habanero granita, poached lobster roll, and toast with a lightly seared kobe beef, microgreens, and marinated radish.
Fry’s experience managing bar programs at Long Beach’s Michael’s Restaurant Group and the former Bernard’s Bar in Chicago came in handy, where he mixes cocktails with terpenes — aromatic compounds found in plants — to create a mood or enhance the tastebuds.
Fry does boozy and playful takes on Yoo Hoo chocolate drink, or Dole Whip with rum, coconut liqueur, and pineapple.
For Sayegh, who used to operate his cannabis dinners out of private residences or industrial spaces in the past few years, landing in this venue feels like settling into a permanent home.
While cannabis consumption is allowed at specific West Hollywood businesses, currently the Original Cannabis Cafe and the Artist Tree, which is scheduled to open on April 20, the remainder of Southern California cannot legally serve cannabis to the public in a food or beverage setting.