6 days Ago
Former grilled cheese chef Eric Greenspan, who’s been recently involved in a number of delivery-only restaurants, as well as a reinvention of American cheese , has been tapped to run the forthcoming Tesla Diner and Drive-in in Hollywood, as first reported by Sawyer Merritt on X. A New York Times report also pointed to job postings by a company called Zero2One with restaurateur Bill Chait listed the company’s manager. Chait was behind the recently closed Tesse in West Hollywood and is a partner in the soon-to-open Firstborn in Chinatown .
While helming Sprout LA, Chait helped open popular LA restaurants Republique, Bestia, the Rose, and Otium; in recent years, he’s been involved with Tartine restaurants both in Northern and Southern California. Eater reached out to Chait and Greenspan but has not received a response. Merritt wrote that the Tesla diner will feature “1950s retro charm, dazzling neon lights” in addition to burgers and milkshakes alongside two drive-in movie screens and 75 level-four electric car charging stations.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been the subject of criticism as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, making national decisions that impact Americans despite not being an elected official. A backlash against Tesla has ensued over the past few months, with vandalized dealerships and vehicles. (Sales of the Model 3 have dropped 36 percent in California.
) Eater first reported on the Tesla-owned restaurant back in 2018 when Musk shared a vision of carhops and charging stations. In 2022, Tesla announced that the diner and drive-in would open on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Orange Drive in Hollywood. Greenspan, along with reinventing American cheese through New School American and focusing on delivery, emerged as one of Los Angeles’s most talked-about chefs when he ran the Foundry on Melrose Avenue in the late aughts.
He was a frequent presence on food television, including his own National Geographic series, Eric Greenspan Is Hungry. The chef started Alt/Grub/Faction in 2017 with cloud kitchen operations focusing on comfort food like breakfast burritos and burgers well before the pandemic boom of cloud kitchens and delivery apps. The partnership between Chait and Greenspan will develop further with a rumored Jewish deli and sandwich shop slated to take over the former Zaza space on La Brea Avenue.
Tesla has not announced an opening date for the diner, but given its current state of construction, it could take several more months — unless, of course, Musk’s DOGE gets involved in LA’s mired permitting process. Related Sign up for our newsletter. Check your inbox for a welcome email.
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Tesla Diner & Drive-In.
