Restaurant Openings, Closures

Authentic Korean soul food has found a home in Glendale as Jin Cook settles into its new digs on Brand Street across from Porto’s in one of the city’s most heavily trafficked corridors. The minimal menu includes hearty staples like curry pork and chicken katsu, slow-braised beef ribs, K-BBQ wings and soups, all served in hefty portions. Where one Moorpark pizzeria closed, another has opened. Local restaurateur Mike Lemmo, who runs Lemmo’s Grill across from Moorpark High School, will open Lemmo’s Pizzeria this month at 4223 Tierra Rejada Road, the former site of Moorpark Pizza Co., which shuttered this summer. Lemmo is no stranger to the pizza scene — his family operated Stuft Pizza in Thousand Oaks, now closed, for 12 years. Lemmo’s son Jake will captain the new spot, expected to open by Nov. 22.. The Collection at RiverPark shopping center in Oxnard has a new vacancy after General Chow Dumpling House & Bar called it quits last month. The restaurant, operated by Zao Brands out of Monterey Park, opened in March 2018 serving soup-filled xiao long bao, pan-fried dumplings and a wide array of seafood dishes. Ventura is now home to its first create-your-own-chocolate-bar experience. Top This Chocolate celebrated its grand opening in Ventura Harbor Village in mid-October. Customers start with dark, milk or white Guittard chocolate in a liquid mold, then garnish it with their choice of more than 40 toppings from gummy bears to goldfish. Founder Shana Elson, a former attorney, started the company five years ago as a one-person mail-order operation out of her Culver City apartment. Barbeque restaurant Barrel & Ashes in Studio City closed last month after a five-year run on Ventura Boulevard. Opened in late 2014, it was chef Timothy Hollingsworth’s first venture in Los Angeles, but he left two years later to start contemporary restaurant Otium downtown. Barrel & Ashes continued serving Texas-style brisket and ribs to an audience of sports fanatics until its exit in October. Chef Mollie Engelhart announced she will open the fourth iteration of her Sage Vegan Bistro concept at Whizin Market Square in Agoura Hills, her first Valleyside project. Sage Vegan Bistro is fully farm-to-table and serves organic drinks and craft beer brewed from hops grown on one of the same farms that also supplies produce to the chain. The Agoura Hill location aims to open in January and will occupy the space formerly held by Hugo’s Restaurant, which closed last year.