Arts District’s Historic Firehouse Project Lands Former NoMad Chef

While the greater Arts District continues to sprout restaurants at an unbelievable pace, one project is still flying well under the radar. It’s called Firehouse, and is situated at the ground floor of a 1920’s era former fire station right on Santa Fe. And now, Firehouse has started staffing up in a very big way.

First, some backstory. Firehouse is both a restaurant/bar and event space, with lots of outdoor seating and plenty of string lights, but it also doubles as a nine-room hotel. The property has been completely overhauled by Dustin Lancaster (Hotel Covell, L&E Oyster Bar, vibey Chinatown wine bar Oriel) as well as designers Sally Breer and Jake Rodehuth-Harrison, with an eye towards opening early next year.

Now comes the fun stuff, as Firehouse has officially brought on chef Ashley Abodeely from the NoMad team. Abodeely moved out from New York City after stints with the group that included Eleven Madison Park, as well as running the NoMad food truck and acting as chef de cuisine for the NoMad restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles. She only just announced her departure from the restaurant a few days ago.

Courtesy Ashley Abodeely

Abodeely’s restaurant details, including menu, are still being formalized through the end of the year, but Lancaster tells Eater that there will also be room for a lobby coffee bar to be run by Counter Culture Coffee, as well as a small retail shop. There’s no opening date to speak of, but it’s looking like a January arrival is rather likely, just in time to settle in before Enrique Olvera opens his modern Mexican restaurant around the corner.

Firehouse. 710 Santa Fe Ave., Los Angeles, CA.

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