Award-Winning Chef Matt Molina Opens Cannonball, a Charming South Pasadena Bistro

One of northeast Los Angeles’s most charming neighborhoods, South Pasadena, welcomed Cannonball on May 2, a new restaurant from Hippo chef Matt Molina and operating partner Joe Capella. The sprawling multi-floor space, previously occupied by Piccolo, has original brick walls, an extensive vintage wine list, cocktails, and farmers-market-derived seasonal produce. It’s potentially the most exciting new restaurant to open in the area in a few years (its most recent was 2023’s debut of Katsu Jin on Fair Oaks). With Molina and Capella steering the ship, South Pasadena has a grown-up restaurant for drinks and classic American dishes, coupled with reasonable prices.

Molina, who won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Pacific of 2012 for his work at Osteria Mozza, has had a strong run with Capella at Arts District’s Everson Royce Bar (opened in 2015), which is also co-founded and co-owned by Randy Clement and April Langford (Good Neighbor Bar, Silver Lake Wine). The foursome opened Hippo in Highland Park and Triple Beam alongside Nancy Silverton in 2018, cementing their place in northeast LA’s dining scene. Molina’s relationships with farmers at the South Pasadena Farmers Market, a main source for Hippo’s produce, led him and Capella to check out the former Piccolo. The former Venice-based Italian restaurant had expanded to Mission Street in 2022 but closed just a year later in spring 2023 (it still operates in Santa Monica). Cannonball is Capella and Molina’s first collaboration, opened without involvement from Clement, Langford, and Silverton.

“Hippo was in a good spot and we wanted to do something in this neighborhood [South Pasadena],” says Molina. “I grew up in SGV and first heard about it when our friend Steven Arroyo opened something here. He was always ahead of the game. It’s so charming here, but a lot of people in Northeast LA don’t know about it, or the farmers market.” After a career spent in Hollywood and Mid-City at Osteria Mozza and Campanile, Molina has become acclimated to this part of town. Molina sees a similarity to New York City restaurateurs, like Gabe Stulman, who open multiple concepts in a particular neighborhood to serve a similar audience.

A chic new restaurant with brick walls and blue accents.

Inside Cannonball in South Pasadena. Wonho Frank Lee

Like Everson Royce Bar, Molina anchors the menu with his signature flaky biscuits with honey butter and a single-patty burger made with ground chuck and Tillamook cheddar. Starters include shaved celery salad with medjool dates, roasted carrots with cumin vinaigrette, and fideos with clams, chorizo, and saffron. Most starters range $12 to $24, bucking the trend of inflationary prices that seem to affect most new LA restaurants. A short list of six mains includes the burger with fries for $23, and extends to barbecue pork loin with Anson Mills polenta, grilled prawns, or grilled New York steak with pommes aligot. An olive cake with a side of crème fraiche is the sole dessert. Molina says the menu will not feature pasta during its opening phase, but he might add some in the future.

Beverages at Cannonball are another strong suit, with Joe Capella’s extensive wine and spirits knowledge on full display. Capella priced the wines to drink now (he would like the entire inventory to turn over every six months), with glasses between $14 and $17, and a long bottle list with prices that are often lower than online retail. He was inspired by places he’s visited in Stockholm and Japan that price wine and spirits at an accessible level and allow enthusiasts to actually “taste the fruits” of often labor-intensive curation. “We’re not trying to profit disproportionately just because it’s rare and in demand,” Capella told Eater over email. There are plenty of wines priced between the high-$30s and mid-$40s, alongside higher-end bottles for those looking to ball out. Cocktails come from a longtime relationship with Varnish co-founder Eric Alperin, who advised on the drinks and helped install lead bartender Wolfgang Alexander at Cannonball. Drinks reflect the Milk & Honey school of bartenders with playful takes on classics like the Raymond Hill (Manhattan) using bourbon, amaro lucano, Pedro Ximénez sherry, and mole.

Fettle Design helped preserve the building’s main interior, hoping to conjure a New York, East Coast, and London feel that stands in contrast to places like Hippo. Capella and Fettle saw the moody space working with a darker color palette; tasteful landscape art, vintage lighting, indoor plants, and pops of old-timey wallpaper complete the look. A more cheerful patio with French cafe-style chairs and greenery works well as an al fresco summer dinner. Eventually, service will expand daily to later hours and a daytime menu on weekends (no weekday lunch, though). With two industry veterans at the helm and a versatile, classic ambience — plus the very approachable food — Cannonball has brightened South Pasadena’s dining scene in a big way.

Cannonball is open Thursday to Monday from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. with expanded hours forthcoming; it’s located at 1010 Mission Street, South Pasadena, CA, 91030. Reservations are available on Resy.

Sleek modern dining room with brick walls.