“In Australia in the ’80s, there was a band was called Ice House, and they had this hit song called ‘Electric Blue,’” explains chef Craig Hopson six weeks after opening his debut restaurant in Mar Vista.
“My wife is in the design business,” he says of partner Mai Sakai, an Emmy-nominated art director and the restaurant’s creative director — who used blue accents to reference the International Klein Blue color conceived of by French artist Yves Klein. “So it’s the Electric Blue color and Electric Blue song — that’s the theme. The music is an ‘80s New Wave and Rock ‘n’ Roll playlist. And the concept overall: I always wanted a French bistro that is not old-school; it’s really accessible, really casual, a really fun environment, but then the food and the wine are really serious.”
Electric BleuCredit: Irvin Rivera
Electric Bleu was a long time coming for the Australia native and 30-year industry veteran — who originally aspiring to be a professional surfer. “Then a local hotel had an opening for a cook, and I thought, ‘It’d be great to be able to work at night and go surfing all day,’” recalls Hopson. Realizing his aptitude, he moved to the other side of Australia to work at Sanctuary Cover Hyatt, under a Belgian chef who’d trained at Michelin-starred restaurants.
“It was the real deal: I got my ass kicked, and I put my head down and learned,” says Hopson. “I was there for four or five years. And then, I wanted to explore the world.” Hopson worked in Geneva before setting his sights on Paris. “I wrote a letter to all the three-star Michelin restaurants in France,” says Hopson, whose cold-calling proved fruitful. “They wrote back and I got on the train and went to Paris!”
He honed his craft at Troisgros, Guy Savoy and Luca Carlton with chef Alain Senderens — the three-Michelin-starred Nouvelle cuisine leader who pioneered food and wine pairings. There, he learned about precision and respect for ingredients, while taking an inventive approach. “We did a dish with foie gras wrapped in cabbage and steamed. Which seems pretty simple, but no one was doing stuff like that at the time. I learned that less is more, and [about] doing stuff the right way every time. No shortcuts.”
Hopson loved working in Paris. “These Michelin-starred chefs in France, they were celebrities,” he recalls. “And living in food culture like that, where everyone talks about the best baguettes and the best chicken, it’s such a great culture.”
Electric BleuCredit: Irvin Rivera
An opportunity at The Ritz-Carlton brought him to the U.S., first to New Orleans and Philadelphia before he landed in New York, where he started out at Artisanal restaurant in the East 30s. “The same owner owned Picholine,” says Hopson, who soon won the job of chef at the upscale French restaurant. During a stint at One If By Land, Two if by Sea (a popular engagement spot), Hopson read that legendary New York French restaurant Le Cirque was looking for a chef. “I called some friends and got an interview and did a tasting for them. There were about nine or ten different chefs in the mix, and they liked my tasting the best,” he says. “And so, I got that job.”
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Hopson worked at Le Cirque for five years, beginning in 2008. “That was an amazing experience,” he says. “The owner Sirio [Maccioni], he was older at the time, but he was still going — and an interesting character! And just to work in such a nostalgic restaurant, and [do] dinners with Daniel Boulud and David Bouley and the Le Cirque alums. I got to be in the mix with those people.” There, he came up with great new dishes — even if many regulars stuck to basics, like Dover sole. He notes, “So I did learn that doing the simple stuff but doing it really well is just as challenging as doing the complicated stuff.”
Electric bleu’s gazpachoCredit: Irvin Rivera
After 14 years in New York, Hopson wanted a change. “I wanted sunshine. I wanted to go surfing again,” he says. “And I felt like the restaurant scene in L.A. had really come up at the time.” Still, his impressive experience didn’t immediately translate. “I found it difficult here, even though I came from great restaurants in New York,” says Hopson, who moved to L.A. in 2015. “I found the restaurant owners here don’t care about that — or don’t even know [Le Cirque].”
Hopson worked at Farmhouse before spending a few years at The Strand House in Manhattan Beach. Then, he started putting out exceptional dishes — decadent takes on comforting French classics, from French onion soup to 24-hour marinated beef oxtail bourguignon — from a most surprising place: the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel. After joining in June 2023, he spent almost two years turning heads as chef de cuisine at Shirley Brasserie. “I felt like we were doing great work there and the food was amazing,” he says, “but it was tough because the clientele didn’t know.” He left Shirley this past May.
Electric BleuCredit: Irvin Rivera
Hopson been trying to open his own place for years. “I’ve always wanted to do my own thing and always felt like I had a lot of love to offer,” says Hopson. “I never really got anyone to invest.”
He’d initially been searching for spaces in West Hollywood. “I wasn’t looking at Mar Vista, but I found this spot, and we could afford it,” he says of himself and his wife and business partner, Mai Sakai. For the longtime Westsider, this space ticked a lot of boxes. “It was a small-enough space. It had the outdoor patio. It had an open kitchen. Originally, I was unsure about the location, but being in a neighborhood’s sort of an advantage, because I’m not bucked by the trends. I’m always going to have that stable neighborhood crowd.”
Electric BleuCredit: Irvin Rivera
After purchasing the space that previously housed Rustic Kitchen Restaurant and Wine Bar on May 1, the couple did minimal work. “The bone structure remains the same, but we wanted it to feel like the neo-bistros in Paris that we love,” says Sakai, who removed a wall to add a chef’s counter in front of the open kitchen, tracked down lighting fixtures she’d loved in Paris and added the “nicotine-stained color of the walls.” The welcoming space, that seats 60 between the dining room and patio, made its debut on Aug. 13.
Electric Bleu’s chef Craig Hopson and GM Benjamin PhanCredit: Irvin Rivera
Electric Bleu has already built a fast following in six weeks’ time. At 5 p.m. on Wednesdays to Saturdays and noon on Sundays, patrons are already flooding in. “I think it’s the fun environment,” Hopson says, crediting the team — including Parisian GM Benjamin Phan. “Everyone loves working there and people can feel the energy.” He adds, “And I think the food is a lot better than anyone expected.”
Electric Bleu’s smoked salmon bliniCredit: Irvin Rivera
Here, Hopson is cooking what he’s passionate about: “It’s French, but it’s a mix,” he says. “[I have] some classic French dishes, like steak au poivre and roast chicken, but then a lot of it leans more contemporary French. When I go to Paris, my favorite restaurants are neo-bistros, like Au Passage and L’Avant Comptoir. It’s definitely French food but it’s not snails, heavy cream dishes; it’s really inventive food, always tied to ingredients and good techniques.”
Electric Bleu’s salmonCredit: Irvin Rivera
His signature roasted chicken is cooked to order in two stages (long and slow, then hot and fast), and his steak au poivre sauce isn’t mostly cream — “it’s more like a jus, so it’s a lot lighter,” he says. Other favorites include chicken liver mousse on caramelized onion crackers, a smoked salmon blini, duck breast with champagne grapes and French fries with chicken salt. “The heirloom tomato salad, everyone’s loving that,” he says. “It’s the most simple-looking thing but the dressing is amazing, it’s French. Everyone gets that, and they get the baguette to sop up the juices.” The baguette comes from Clark Street Bakery, and daily dessert options include the decadent chocolate mousse.
Electric Bleu’s duck breastCredit: Irvin Rivera
“I love doing the classic stuff, like chocolate mousse, but I also love doing the new contemporary stuff and really being market-driven,” says Hopson, who changes the menu with seasonal farmers market produce. “There’s basically a tweak every day.”
What does the veteran chef think he’s best at? “Doing food that people know but in unexpected ways,” Hopson says, citing the chicken that he plans to eventually offer on a to-go menu. “Refining it and doing the best version of it that I can.”
Electric Bleu’s Craig Hopson and Mai SakaiCredit: Irvin Rivera
The wine list is mostly French- and California-leaning. “I didn’t want the old classics that everyone has, the old Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay. So our Sauvignon Blanc is Sancerre. We have Aligoté, wine from the Savoie,” says Hopson, who also serves bubbles, particularly at brunch.
“It’s kind of like the food,” he adds of the wine — describing it in a way that could also apply to the entire venture. “It’s a little offbeat but not too weird. It’s adventurous but it’s accessible.”
3523 S. Centinela Ave., Mar Vista, electricbleu.com
Dining and Cooking