There’s no shortage of World Cup viewing parties in Los Angeles, especially when it comes to those with great food and drink.
Across L.A. there are restaurants and bars adding big-screen TVs to their dining rooms for the first time, and plenty of sports bars that always offer something delicious. This week we stopped by three viewing parties where the food is just as much an attraction as the matches, where you can cheer for your team while eating live-fire grilled meats by one of L.A.’s favorite pop-ups, pizza in one of the city’s most historic (and previously closed) restaurants, and empanadas and imported Argentinian beer at what feels like a block party in South L.A.
Estrano Verano x Skyduster Beer
Former Poltergeist chef Diego Argoti is bringing a pub-like version of his pop-up, Estrano, to Skyduster Beer with a menu that includes furikake- and chili crisp-topped hot dogs, masa-dredged Thai fried chicken sandwiches, and double cheeseburgers.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Ever since genre-bending restaurant Poltergeist closed, it could be hard to find chef Diego Argoti — until now. His esoteric sidewalk pasta pop-up, Estrano, happens sporadically. But thanks to a partnership with L.A. brewery Skyduster Beer, Argoti and his renegade kitchen crew can be caught cooking every game day in the Fashion District with a residency called Estrano Verano attached to Skyduster’s new 17,000-square-foot brewery.
“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to cook in my entire life,” Argoti said.
Cooking for 35 guests at Poltergeist felt much simpler and more predictable — even though his menu had been more complex. Now, he’ll serve between 300 and 400 guests on a busy game day, churning out creative spins on classic pub items during the week, and an ambitious live-fire menu on weekends.
There are thick short rib burgers topped with hoisin-tinged caramelized onions and malt-vinegar aioli; a rotation of hot dogs; a Caesar salad coated in tart lime leaf dressing; and a Thai-inspired fried chicken sandwich fried in a masa dredge to complement Skyduster’s current lineup, which includes a pickle beer, a super-dry lager and an Italian pilsner, among others.
On weekends look for more composed dishes such as grilled short rib, aguachile-inspired stone fruit and tomatoes, bone-in pork chops and Moroccan-style chicken.
“What a time, the World Cup,” said Skyduster co-owner Johnny Marler. “It’s the world’s sport fully played together, and you’ve got an Ecuadorian [Argoti] and a Canadian [Marler] working together representing Los Angeles as a beer garden, and all these walks of life.”
They commissioned a custom Santa Maria-style grill and found a small food truck to serve as their kitchen.
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Marler and Argoti would occasionally find themselves working at the same events. Halfway through one of them, with 90 guests seated on a patio, the gas went out. Marler assumed the event would be canceled, but Argoti ripped the old grill out from the kitchen and moved it outside.
“The show didn’t just go on, the show got better now that everyone was out there surrounded by the fire,” Marler said. “I was like, ‘Nothing’s gonna stop this man.’ Then I was like, ‘We really need to work together.’ ”
Beyond Estrano Verano’s run at Skyduster during the World Cup, Argoti’s pub-like dishes will continue there, as well as in the Skyduster taproom being built in Silver Lake. Follow Skyduster on Instagram for game-day schedules.
1124 San Julian St., Los Angeles, skyduster.com
Clifton’s is back and hosting World Cup viewing parties that include a new pizza program and soccer-themed cocktails.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Clifton’s returns
The kitchen at one of the city’s most historic, colorful and recently shuttered restaurants is up and running again, using the former Clifton’s cafeteria space to fire an array of soccer-inspired pizzas and collaborations with local chefs throughout the World Cup.
This 1935-founded Clifton’s, originally one of eight locations, famously fed Angelenos during the Great Depression and became a flagship location for Clifford Clinton’s whimsical decor, which still exists today. In April its former owner, Andrew Meieran, told The Times he would permanently close Clifton’s because of rising operations costs, a decaying downtown and repeated vandalism. But now, it’s back.
Clifton’s added festive touches to its taxidermy for the World Cup.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Robhana Group — which also owns the historic Tom Bergins Irish Pub, the Edison and the Variety Arts Theater — bought Clifton’s in April and is hoping to revive the venue with a bang. It has opened the first two floors of the maze-like space, adding large-screen TVs and projector screens for game days. The matches are also being projected onto some of the walls, and festive touches have been added to the taxidermy.
The company tapped restaurateur Raj Nallapothola and L.A. Pizza Alliance organizer David Turkell to help create the food and beverage menus, with Mother Wolf and Bestia alum George Silyan heading a new sourdough Neapolitan-leaning pizza program.
The onsite commissary kitchen churns out 69-hour-fermented dough, and it’s baked in the cafeteria’s decades-old pizza oven and turned into themed pies such as the Peléroni with pepperoni, ricotta and mozzarella; the Red Card, made with guanciale and spicy red Calabrian chiles; and team-inspired options like the Morocco’s Modern Life, topped with merguez, mint and labneh.
Silyan’s also expanding the menu with pastas, smash burgers and collaborations with local chefs. For Thursday’s Mexico vs. South Korea match, former L.A. Times 101 List restaurant Soban joined the team for a collab pizza topped with bulgogi and daikon radish. A new World Cup cocktail menu is also in play, with themed tipples like the mezcal- and turmeric-tinged Sweeper and the bourbon, vermouth and ume liqueur Number Ten.
Fans get ready for a game at Clifton’s on Tuesday.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
“I was always told about the Clifton’s Cafeteria back in the day and how meaningful it was for my family as they emigrated here to Los Angeles,” Turkell said. “Being able to help reopen this space is an honor, and I’m just so excited to be a part of this. … We really want this to be for the people who are throwing down for the city the most, because that’s the type of energy we need to really open this place up successfully.”
A new Instagram account, @CliftonsLA, is now live and posting updates about watch parties and daily food menus.
648 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, cliftonsdtla.com
Fuegos LA staff prepare choripan at the Argentina vs. Algeria World Cup watch party.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Fuegos LA
Guests spill from the parking lot-turned-patio and onto the sidewalk, and on the live-fire grill chorpian links sizzle away. Once finished, they slide into buns and are topped with shoestring potato crisps and condiments like mustard, chimichurri and criolla sauce.
Nearby, an outdoor pizza oven bakes order after order of fugazza, a thick Argentine pizza. Inside, paper trays of empanadas fly out of the kitchen. It’s another game day at South L.A. Argentinian restaurant and wine bar Fuegos LA, and it’s an especially fitting place to catch an Argentina match.
Guests arrived as many as four hours early for Fuegos LA’s Argentina vs. Algeria World Cup watch party on Tuesday.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Between the outdoor patio — complete with long tables and a large TV — and the dining room, which boasts its own tables, chairs and TV, the restaurant from Argentina expats Federico Laboureau and Maximilian Pizzi is newly set up for the World Cup. Fans mumble, “permiso, permiso” as they walk through the crowded dining room and patio, bottles of imported Quilmes and filled-to-the-brim glasses of malbec clutched in their hands. The energy is frenetic, especially when Argentina plays.
Pizzi said that some guests arrived four hours early on Tuesday, in order to stake out tables nearest to the screens for Argentina’s first match. The crowd outside looked like undulating waves of blue and white stripes: Nearly everyone wore an Argentina jersey, wrapped themselves in the flag or painted it on their face. For the less die-hard fans, Pizzi and Laboureau provide printed lyrics to Argentinian fútbol cheers.
Ricardo Yernazian cheered on the team from the patio. He and his wife moved to Los Angeles from Buenos Aires in 2000; since then, they never returned, and enjoy dining in L.A.’s Argentinian restaurants for a taste and a reminder. Tuesday marked their first time at Fuegos LA, which they learned about from an Argentinian friend. Yernazian said he’ll probably return to Fuegos LA for viewing parties, possibly with his three children, though he’ll be watching many from home.
“But this one,” he said, “I didn’t want to miss.”
Fuegos: 3957 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 403-2133
Fuegos LA’s signature empanadas served during the Argentina vs. Algeria World Cup watch party .
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
