After opening a little over a year ago, Chef Jackson Kalb will rebrand his restaurant, Jemma di Mare, and turn it into another Ospi location at 11677 San Vicente Boulevard.
Kalb is making significant changes to his Brentwood restaurant after realizing that only two dishes were being sold frequently: fritto misto and sole piccata. Instead of revamping the menu or insisting on new specials, Kalb has decided to close the restaurant on August 26 and will replace it with Ospi Brentwood in the first week of September, according to Eater Los Angeles. The top chef alumni will keep fritto misto on the menu but freshen up the artwork and wall accents while keeping the seating and layout the same.
“Out of the top 20 best sellers, only two were seafood. That made me scratch my head and think, what the hell’s going on here?” Kalb tells Eater. “I just needed to make a business decision and relaunch. I can’t have an ego anymore — it would just be damaging for everybody. People were asking for Ospi, and that’s been going great. People want what they want, so I’d rather just give it to them.”
Ospi opened in Venice in September 2020, at the peak of the pandemic shutdowns. While it took a while before guests could experience the inside of the restaurant, which replaced Canal Club, Opsi’s quickly won the hearts of many locals. Now, it’s considered one of the best Italian restaurants in the city. It initially started with a Southern Italian focus but with thin-crust Roman-style pizza but has since evolved into a globally infused Italian American menu. Kalb will now open a second restaurant location in a few weeks.
