{"id":55563,"date":"2026-10-18T14:57:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T14:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/55563\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T14:57:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T14:57:17","slug":"birdie-gs-resurrects-with-a-70s-drenched-dining-room-and-the-beloved-pickle-chick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/55563\/","title":{"rendered":"Birdie G\u2019s Resurrects With a \u201870s-Drenched Dining Room and the Beloved Pickle Chick"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeremy Fox\u2019s beloved Santa Monica restaurant, Birdie G\u2019s, will resurrect at Fairmont Century Plaza after closing at the end of 2025. Named after Fox\u2019s daughter Birdie and grandmother Gladys, the restaurant will reopen on October 26, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a mix of original favorites, such as the Pickle Chick, and new dishes, including a Rancho Gordo bean\u2013based poached egg ribollita.<\/p>\n

When Fox first spoke with Fairmont Century Plaza about Birdie\u2019s G\u2019s in June 2025, it was supposed to be the restaurant\u2019s second location. But as it became increasingly clear that the Bergamot Station Arts Center outpost could not remain open, nothing was set in stone; at the time of the closure, Fox believed Birdie G\u2019s might be gone for good. \u201cIn life, you very rarely get second chances, and in a restaurant even less so,\u201d he says. \u201cSo I feel very fortunate and grateful that I didn\u2019t have to tell Birdie that her restaurant was done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jeremy<\/p>\n

Jeremy Fox at Birdie G\u2019s. Birdie G\u2019s<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Chicken and vegetables. Birdie G\u2019s<\/p>\n

While the original Birdie G\u2019s served only dinner, the Century City location will open at 6 a.m. for coffee, with its Midwest and Jewish\u2013inflected breakfast and lunch available from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. The breakfast menu opens with Birdie\u2019s muesli crowned with banana and apple, along with a cornbread waffle paired with sweet pepper jam, citrusy blood orange agrumato-dressed avocado toast, a build-your-own omelet, koji-marinated steak and eggs, and a smoked fish platter. Lunch brings a corned beef Reuben on Bub & Grandma\u2019s bread, rice flour\u2013batter mushroom fritto misto, the return of the famed gluten-free pickle chicken, three sizes of steak frites spanning eight to 28 ounces, and cauliflower kugel.<\/p>\n

The dinner menu, which offers many of the same dishes as lunch, sees the return of the Hangtown Brei with fried oyster and pork belly that Fox describes as \u201cvery decadent, over-the-top, semi-blasphemous,\u201d lamb \u00e0 la sales, and the stained-glass-like rose petal pie, plus new options such as rotisserie chicken and vegetables. \u201cI like to refer to it as bubbe cuisine,\u201d Fox says. \u201cJust trying to channel that kind of no-nonsense, bare-bones, straight-to-the-point cooking.\u201d<\/p>\n

The restaurant will also bring back some of Birdie G\u2019s former staff, including bar director Stephanie Redding, who will consult on the drinks; Laura Eldrige, who will work in the bar; and former cooks. Over the years, Fox and the Birdie G\u2019s team documented most of their recipes, which will be the basis for the new location.<\/p>\n

Birdie G\u2019s in Santa Monica is the first restaurant Fox designed from the ground up; looking back, he says he didn\u2019t quite understand the process or know how to advocate for his ideas at the time. \u201cIt was a really cool warehouse space, but nothing about it tied into the concept, the vibe, the atmosphere, to what I wanted Birdie G\u2019s to be,\u201d Fox says. In Century City, he collaborated with EDG Design to help bring his initial vision to fruition. The restaurant stands in stark contrast to the rest of the upscale hotel, bathed in neutral stone and punctuated by indoor greenery. Strong 1970s inspiration permeates the dining room, from the burnt-mustard banquettes to the plaid bar stools and repeating triangular wallpaper that looks like it could be found in a retro basement.<\/p>\n

Artwork shaped into small galleries adorns the walls, including vintage magazine covers like a 1987 Sports Illustrated issue featuring Joe Carter and Corey Snyder of the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians), and a painting of two birds in dinner coats. \u201cIt definitely feels like you\u2019re somewhere else in time, somewhere else in the country,\u201d Fox says.<\/p>\n

For Fox, Birdie G\u2019s was never meant to be a hotspot. Instead, he hoped the restaurant would feel like it had been there forever; it was initially inspired by his love of chain restaurants like Applebee\u2019s and the Cheesecake Factory. Fox points to 1996\u2019s Big Night as something that influenced him to go to culinary school at all. While he worked in fine dining at restaurants including Rustic Canyon, he kept returning to the cozy Italian restaurant run by the brothers in Big Night as a reference for what he hoped to do. \u201cI wanted that restaurant that was simple, that was earnest, that wasn\u2019t trendy,\u201d Fox says.<\/p>\n

Decades into Fox\u2019s career, the Century City Birdie G\u2019s feels like something entirely new for him. He says that over the last five years, as he and the industry faced numerous difficulties, it\u2019s been hard to operate as a confident creative force. When Birdie G\u2019s closed in Santa Monica, he suddenly faced, for the first time in many years, not having somewhere to report to every day. Now, as he prepares to reopen Birdie G\u2019s and continues developing his San Luis Obispo restaurant, Edna, he\u2019s feeling hopeful about what is next. \u201cThis is me really needing a W,\u201d Fox says. \u201cReally needing a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reservations for Birdie G\u2019s are available on OpenTable.<\/p>\n

\"Steak<\/p>\n

Steak tartare. Birdie G\u2019s<\/p>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

Plaid stools. Birdie G\u2019s<\/p>\n

\"Entrance<\/p>\n

Entrance to Birdie G\u2019s. Birdie G\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeremy Fox\u2019s beloved Santa Monica restaurant, Birdie G\u2019s, will resurrect at Fairmont Century Plaza after closing at the end of 2025. Named after Fox\u2019s daughter Birdie and grandmother Gladys, the restaurant will reopen on October 26, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a mix of original favorites, such as the Pickle Chick, and new dishes,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[58,55,56,53,102,57,1077,1703],"class_list":["post-55563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-cuisine","tag-california-dining","tag-california-food","tag-california-restaurants","tag-california-wine","tag-la-restaurant-news","tag-la-restaurant-openings"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117462502171639610","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}