A Popular Venice Cocktail Lounge Is Entering Its Izakaya Era

Gran Blanco, the nearly five-year-old cocktail lounge located below the Venice sign on Windward Avenue from the founders of Great White, is introducing revamped menus and interiors on Friday, April 19. While Gran Blanco attracted a steady crowd of locals for its well-made cocktails and approachable Mediterranean food, the restaurant never quite differentiated itself in a crowded small-plates-and-booze scene with Belle’s Beach House, Wallflower, and Si! Mon just a stone’s throw away. Further east, newer drinking dens like Virgil Village’s Budonoki and Danbi in Koreatown are seeing popularity with Asian-inflected bites paired with plenty of drinks to boisterous crowds.

Now, Gran Blanco co-founders Sam Trude and Sam Cooper are bringing the bar into its next chapter with a refreshed design and all-new food and drink menus taking inspiration from Japanese izakaya culture. “We’ve always wanted to do a Japanese restaurant, so instead of opening a new space, we decided to shift the cuisine of Gran Blanco,” Trude and Cooper tell Eater.

Located in the former Bank of Venice building designed by Abbot Kinney, Gran Blanco’s impressive vaulted ceilings remain intact, along with its abundant use of natural materials and earth tones. Still around are the Tulum-style basket lights, a wall of vases and vessels, and a focal disco ball. Gran Blanco’s sturdy chairs with woven backs have been replaced with more intimate seating comprised of sleek, U-shaped chairs. The updated vibe is pared-back, dark, and easy to while the night away in.

The Gran Blanco team collaborated with a consulting chef, whom they are not naming publicly, with experience in Japanese cuisine to rework its casual food offerings. The chef will stay on “peripherally” after the reopening to “innovate with the team,” a representative tells Eater. Food and beverage director Juan Ferreiro will handle day-to-day execution.

While Gran Blanco’s menu retains its shareable format, none of the original dishes, including lamb riblets with harissa, spicy rigatoni, and fish tacos, is carried over to the latest iteration. The slate of 16 new dishes ranges from $8 to $36, including half a dozen vegetable-centered plates (tonkatsu Brussel sprouts, roasted cabbage Caesar) and crowdpleasers like yellowtail crudo and marinated cucumbers. A few wildcards appear on the menu, including a cheeseburger spring roll and a requisite large-format wagyu steak. (The full menu is below.)

To pair with the food are new cocktails highlighting ingredients like yuzu and banana leaf, along with beer, low-intervention sakes, and globally sourced natural wines from independent producers available by the glass or bottle. The “sparkling pear cocktail” made with pear eau de vie mixed with Champagne and citrus oil makes for a refreshing highball riff. The “stirred whiskey cocktail” hits a balanced but spirit-forward note with Brucato amaro and apple cider. A selection of amaros, vermouths, mocktails, and low-ABV drinks rounds out the offerings.

“[Gran Blanco] had only been open for a year before the pandemic hit, so it never had much chance to come into its own,” Trude and Cooper tell Eater. “With seven years of restaurant experience under our belt now, we feel it’s the right timing for the concept to evolve.”

Gran Blanco is located at 80 Windward Avenue and is open from 5 p.m. to midnight from Wednesday through Sunday.