Lavo SD, hero
Courtesy of Lavo
Eight years ago, when I first moved to San Diego from New York, where I’m from, a friend who had grown up in North County said to me, “Just know that the two cities are very different. Also, it’s a much slower pace of life. Trends don’t hit there until about 10 years after they happen everywhere else.” She laughed.
I had figured as much, so it didn’t phase me. New York is New York; it’s a dense, enormous metropolis with a vibe unlike any other in the world. It would be silly to expect to find it reincarnated anywhere else. Plus, the beauty of San Diego is precisely that it isn’t like New York.
Many of the things that make San Diego a near-perfect place to live—excellent year-round weather, proximity to the border with Mexico, tens of miles of beaches and good access to other outdoor recreating, some of the world’s best street tacos, more living space regardless of income—are but distant dreams back in my home city. I was willing to trade fleeting restaurant trends for the other benefits that my new hometown had to offer.
Lavo interior
Courtesy of Lavo
So, I cackled a little bit hearing this past summer that Lavo, a restaurant from the TAO Group that originated in Las Vegas but opened an extremely popular Manhattan outpost in 2010, was finally opening a San Diego location in the Year of Our Lord 2022. Like other regional chains that eventually made their way to our fair shores after some lag time (Shake Shack, Sweetgreen, et cetera), my friend’s assessment continued to ring true. What surprised me was that, unlike its previous iterations, this version of Lavo would feature only its swanky red sauce-style Italian restaurant, sans nightclub.
In addition to the latent trend effect, there’s also a history of Las Vegas hospitality groups opening spots in San Diego, like Clique Hospitality, which owns Lionfish, Serea, Joya Kitchen, Temaki, and Bull & Bourbon, and the Hakkasan Group, which owned Searsucker, Omnia, and Herringbone but has since been absorbed into the TAO Group, which shuttered those locations. It’s in the old Searsucker space that Lavo opened in August.
It’s not hard to see why Vegas outposts are looking to our fair shores to set up shop. “San Diego is the perfect market for Vegas concepts,” says Brendan McManus, Tao Group Hospitality VP of West Coast Operations. “The city has a robust bar scene and lots of young professionals looking for something new to try. Not to mention San Diego is home to some of the best sports teams as well as very well-attended conventions.”
A young Jackie Bryant at Lavo NYC circa 2010
In addition to my amusement at the timeline, I go way back with the Lavo franchise. When the nightclub opened in New York, it was at the hottest point of the electronic dance music and bottle service resurgence in the city. I was there at least two nights a week (stay tuned for my memoir, Confessions of a Former Club Rat…just kidding).
Every week featured some of the biggest names at the time on the decks: Tiesto had a weekly residence, Kaskade made multiple appearances, and so did the members of Swedish House Mafia, together and as individual acts, as well as other big names like Erick Morillo, Deadmau5, and Chuckie.
Nightlife photographer Kirill Was Here took racy photos of women in various states of undress and the men they were partying with being totally debauched—pouring Champagne on themselves and often on club drugs, which was the name of the game during New York’s club-oriented nightlife scene at the time. It was hedonistic and fun.
In addition to being a fixture on the dance floor, I also eventually had my bachelorette party there complete with sparklers in Champagne bottles and a giant sign that said, “Felicidades, Jackie!
Lavo, drinks
Courtesy of Lavo
Aside from its raucous subterranean nightclub, Lavo NYC (and its Vegas counterpart) also had an adjacent Italian restaurant, which served food that, I remember thinking at the time, was “way better than it had to be.” They could have gotten away with serving slop, and people still would have forked over whatever amount just to see and beseen there. But it was actually pretty good.
As with lots of restaurants that have nightclub elements (think Kettner Exchange here in San Diego), the dining room had a habit of also turning into a party, complete with separate DJ sets and its own bottle service apparatus.
The San Diego version is different. Importantly, there’s no nightclub, though due to its location and by its own admission, it’s almost certainly geared toward the corporate cards and moneyed set.
“We thought that the Gaslamp was missing a quality restaurant and wanted to provide authentic Italian food with a relaxed and vibrant atmosphere,” McManus said of the intentional omission. As a nod to its previous iterations, the recently added brunch features a DJ during service, along with bottomless mimosas and Bloody Marys.
Lavo, chicken parm
Courtesy of Lavo
Since Lavo San Diego mainly focuses on food, the good news is that it’s still worth a try. One of my favorite options is its Monday-Friday aperitivo, which is basically Italian happy hour and runs from 5-6:30 p.m. featuring Spritz and other drink specials, as well as salty snacks like arancini (rice balls).
For dinner, the baked clams oreganato, something I grew up eating at home thanks to my Italian-American grandma’s expertise, are great: herby, bready, and buttery. The eggplant parm is roasted rather than fried (I prefer the latter), but it’s a solid version of the red sauce staple with plenty of melted mozzarella. So is the chicken parm, which is pounded thin and enormous—it’s too much for one person, made to share, and is my favorite main dish on the menu.
The big meatball is impressively flavorful and moist, owing to its one-pound weigh-in, but it’s an undertaking. If opting for pasta, the classic spaghetti and meatballs will do just fine.
I’m not someone who hangs out in the Gaslamp often, or ever, for that matter. But it was nice to see how it’s evolving into its next phase as the world continues to open after the pandemic’s onset, as well as to scratch a nostalgic itch I hadn’t in many years. In many ways, the Lavo franchise has grown up—it doesn’t need nightclubs anymore—and the same goes for me.
