Pacific Palisades Is Coming Back: Where to Eat and What’s Opening Next

Sixteen months after the January 2025 fires, Pacific Palisades is still in recovery — but the dining scene is showing its first real signs of life. The neighborhood that lost the most is quietly fighting its way back, one reopening at a time. Here’s what’s open for Pacific Palisades restaurants right now, what closed, and the massive opening that’s about to change everything this summer.

The Places That Are Open Right Now

Most of the Village’s retail and restaurant corridor remains shuttered, but a few spots have become the beating heart of the community’s recovery. If you haven’t been up to the Palisades since the fires, it’s worth making the drive — and stopping in.

Palisades Garden Cafe. The first restaurant to reopen after the fires, and it quickly became far more than a cafe. Located at 15231 La Cruz Dr, it’s open Monday through Friday from 6:30am to 5pm and Saturday from 7am to 5pm. Displaced homeowners, insurance adjusters, contractors, and long-time residents all converge here over coffee and breakfast plates. The food is honest and good — solid egg dishes, fresh pastries, decent lunch fare — but the real reason to come is the atmosphere. This place is doing the emotional work of keeping the neighborhood together while the buildings get rebuilt. Go, order something, and tip generously.

Prima Cantina. The neighborhood’s lone sit-down lunch and dinner option for much of the past year. Set inside the former Ka’y’ndave’s space at 15246 W. Sunset Blvd, Prima Cantina serves Mexican food Monday through Saturday from 11:30am to 8pm. The tacos are dependable, the margaritas are strong, and the patio is one of the more pleasant places to sit in the Palisades on a clear afternoon. For a neighborhood still missing most of its restaurants, the mere fact that it’s here — and open — matters enormously.

“In the absence of almost everything else, these places became something more than restaurants. They became the reason to come back.”

The Big One: Spacca Tutto Is Anchoring the Village This August

Here’s where it gets exciting. Rick Caruso — who owns Palisades Village — has announced that Spacca Tutto, a new Italian American steakhouse from chef Nancy Silverton and filmmaker McG, will anchor the rebuilt Village when it reopens in August 2026.

If the name sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a spinoff of Silverton’s beloved Chi Spacca on Melrose, widely considered one of the best meat-focused restaurants in Los Angeles. Spacca Tutto will occupy the anchor spot formerly held by The Draycott, with an interior designed by AvroKO — the New York firm behind some of the most acclaimed restaurant spaces in the country.

The menu will feature a steak-forward lineup alongside lighter fare: salads, fresh seafood, and seasonal vegetable dishes that make this viable for lunch, dinner, and everything in between. The wine program promises nearly 250 Italian and domestic labels, paired with a “fast craft” cocktail menu. For a neighborhood that’s been eating takeout and café food for over a year, this is about as good a comeback anchor as you could imagine.

No exact opening date beyond August 2026 has been confirmed, so follow Palisades Village and Silverton’s channels for updates. This one will book up fast.

Just Down PCH: Duke’s Malibu Is Back

It’s not technically the Palisades, but Duke’s Malibu is close enough that any coastal dining guide for this stretch of the coast needs to mention it. The iconic oceanfront restaurant — one of the most beloved on the entire Southern California coast — reopened on March 13, 2026, after a 14-month closure caused by the Palisades Fire and a subsequent mudslide that sent four feet of mud through the interior. The structure survived the flames; the mud required a total renovation.

The food (grilled fish, elevated Hawaiian-inspired plates, the legendary mai tai) is the same as it ever was, but the interior is entirely new. If you haven’t been in over a year, go soon before the summer crowds make it difficult to get a table. On a clear evening on the deck at Duke’s, with the Pacific stretching west to nowhere, it’s easy to believe that everything is going to be okay.

For the broader Westside dining scene, Santa Monica’s restaurant corridor and the cliffside views at Palisades Park remain among the most reliably excellent experiences on this side of the city — and both are less than 10 minutes from the Palisades by car.