Design to Dine For

If restaurant critics always address the mise-en-scène before reviewing what's on their plates, why shouldn't restaurant designers toast their own accomplishments? The AIA Los Angeles chapter did just that, being the first arm of the national group to give a restaurant-design award. Among 50 submissions, Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects's Café R&D was cited for "good design at any price"; Armantrout Architects's modernist dining pavilion at the Environmental Systems Research Institute for embodying a "gracious indoor-outdoor connection"; Tag Front's Geisha House for providing a "design experience"; and Hagy Belzberg's Patina at the Walt Disney Concert Hall for being "classically elegant."

The competition was judged by Steven Ehrlich Architects's namesake principal, Imagining Interior Design principal Barbara Lazaroff, Adams Morioka principal Noreen Morioka, and LA Weekly restaurant critic Jonathan Gold. Boffi's L.A. showroom hosted the ceremony.