(Nightshade Restaurant, Photograph by Eater Los
Angeles, Wonho Frank Lee)
Nightshade, the new
restaurant of Top Chef season 12 winner Mei Lin, scheduled to open in January
2019
Chef Mei Lin partnered
with Cyrus Batchan and Francis Miranda of N°8 to create a fine dining
experience in LA with touches of Asia and Europe.
Many restaurants spring up in big cities like Los Angeles, but one of the most anticipated restaurant openings is certainly Nightshade, of 2014 Eater Young Gun and Top Chef season 12 winner Mei Lin. The restaurant is scheduled to open in January 2019.
Here, Chef Mei Lin partnered with Cyrus Batchan and Francis Miranda of N°8 (Lock & Key in Koreatown) to design and build a modern, wood-lined dining room with hanging lamps, lush greenery, and matching banquettes. It will bring Mei Lin’s unique brand of Asian-influenced dishes to the LA Arts District. In fact, this is the first restaurant where Mei Lin is fully in charge of the menu. Some of the influences come from Lin’s family’s Chinese restaurant in Detroit. Over time, she has developed her own vision of modern Los Angeles cooking, incorporating local flavors in the dishes she designs. The 60-seat dining room itself was designed by restaurant interior experts Jorge Gracia (with Andres Pompa and Benjamin Huerta).
Comments Cyrus Batchan, "opening a restaurant is a challenge even when it is just a run-of-the-mill place, and a special one like Nightshade takes the extra mile. After all this effort, we can't wait to see it open its doors."
The partners are themselves very experienced in the hospitality industry. Cyrus Batchan has years of hands-on experience in the hotel and restaurant industry in the Los Angeles area. Mr. Batchan grew up in a restaurant family and worked every job from dishwasher, cook, delivery driver to bartender. Initially, he managed an investment fund developing real estates all throughout the greater Los Angeles Area. In 2013, he opened Lock & Key, an upscale lounge, in Los Angeles. Nightshade is his most recent endeavor.
About Cyrus Leon
Batchan
Cyrus
Leon Batchan is a business consultant in Sherman Oaks, California, focusing on
restaurant and bar businesses. He has significant “hands on” experience with
businesses. Mr. Batchan received a Juris Doctor Degree from the University of
San Diego, California.
References
Cyrus Batchan, business consultant in Sherman Oaks, California.
