In a comeback from one of LA’s most popular Chinese restaurants, Genghis Cohen has reopened

After selling its original building, one of LA’s most legendary Chinese restaurants closed its doors in May. But Genghis Khan has now reopened in a new location, with a more spacious dining room and new dishes and cocktails. It’s still on the same street, just a few blocks south.

A new velvet-covered dining area in Genghis Khan’s new home.

(Stephanie Brijo/Los Angeles Times)

The New York-style Chinese-American restaurant serving stir-fries, tropical drinks and house specialties like “Canton Nash” has hosted some of the world’s most famous people and generations of Angelenos during its nearly 40 years at 740 N. Fairfax Ave. The space featured a dining room and a large paper-lined room. Dragon, as well as Tandem Music Place.

Owners Mark Rose and Mad Abros said they were unable to renegotiate the Genghis Cohen lease after years of trying with the building’s new owners, and hatched a plan: Open another location in the neighborhood, first with takeout, then with dine-in service.

“We’re working on our feet to find a solution, and I believe we’ve found the best possible solution to a really bad situation that we’re in,” Rose told The Times earlier this year.

They took over the former Sweet Chicken location at 448 N. Fairfax Ave on June 1 with Genghis Cohen’s delivery. Now they’ve opened a new dining room, which is even more neon, colorful and with the return of its red paper lanterns and dragons.

This ring-shaped fish tank is now mounted on the top wall of the bar, which is also larger; Given the additional bar seating, the team added a number of new tropical cocktails, such as a boozy riff on the dole whip dessert, and weekend-only late-night menus such as chicken lollipops and barbecue pork bao. New 24-hour dishes include shrimp and shio dumplings and five-spice marinated volcano chicken grilled tableside.

The new Genghis Cohen doesn’t have a private dining room as well as a music venue, but Abros and Rose partnered with Canter’s Deli and its adjacent bar and venue, the Kibbutz Room, to host a music series called “The Life of Genghis Cohen” on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Genghis Cohen is open Monday through Thursday from 4 to 10 p.m., Friday from 4 to 2 a.m., Saturday from midnight to 2 a.m., and Sunday from noon to 10 p.m.

448 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 653-0640, genghiscohen.com

An olive oil-infused Negroni at Funk in Beverly Hills.

(Stephanie Brijo/Los Angeles Times)

The funk opens again

An August fire temporarily closed Evan Fink’s acclaimed eponymous restaurant in Beverly Hills, but earlier this month Fink and all of its delicate, revered Italian cuisine returned.

According to a representative from the city of Beverly Hills, the small fire was initially contained to the ventilation duct system, and the restaurant suffered minor damage. No one was hurt in the fire, and Funk’s team tried to reschedule guests at the chef’s other Los Angeles restaurants, Mother Wolf and Felix, while awaiting reopening.

As of October 1, Funk reopened for reservations in both its restaurant and rooftop bar. Funk is open Monday through Thursday from 5 to 10:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m., Bar Funk, is open Monday to Thursday from 5 to 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 5 to midnight.

9388 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, (424)-279-9796, funkela.com

Korean fried chicken, to be exact, with shrimp toast and rose tteokboki at the chef’s new location.

(Stephanie Brijo/Los Angeles Times)

Chameleon expands

Some of the city’s best Korean fried chicken just expanded to a new home on Melrose Avenue.

Chimelier’s Melrose Avenue location has a casual dining room.

(Stephanie Brijo/Los Angeles Times)

Chimmelier, from Hospitality Group, debuted at Smorgasbord in 2020 with giant fried chicken sandwiches and seasonal fries that still draw lines at the weekly food festival. The chammelier — or “chicken sommelier” — then took over the restaurant group’s former home of operations, Hancheek, where it still operates with a walk-up format in a strip mall bordering Westlake and Koreatown.

But Chimmelier’s new location, in the Fairfax district along Melrose, offers splashes of color in indoor dining and street art-inspired murals. The brand’s signature Korean fried chicken, in both sandwich and wing form, can be found here, along with small plates and sides such as Shrimp Toast Bites, To Bokki in Rose Sauce, Cheese Corn and Kimchi Fried Rice. As with sibling concept Jelly, the owners plan to introduce more Korean drinking culture to LA with a program for soju, locally brewed beer, makgeolli and natural wine in the new home of Chameleon. The Chimelier is open daily from 11am to 11pm

7363 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, chimmelierusa.com