ABOUT US
Every restaurant we create is built around the personalities of our operating partners and the neighborhoods we are joining. Our love for restaurants with a genuine soul is immense. Each partner brings their own passions and life experiences to each store, and it is that direct connection that builds venues that flourish during the tests of time.
ADAM WEISBLATT (founder)
Weisblatt is a proud son of the great state of Massachusetts, husband to Leah June and father to Owen Arlo, professional diner, and lover of fine sherry and brandy. Since co-founding LWH in 2014, Weisblatt leads the company in establishing new business, creating new restaurant concepts, shaping long term strategy, and giving motivational hospitality speeches that go on just slightly too long.
HOLLY FOX (founder)
Fox is the wife to the inimitable Morgan Fox, mother to Mosey the dog, and proof that whoever requires an eye patch in kindergarten remains a badass forever. Born in Palm Springs and influenced by a lifelong passion for travel, Fox co-founded LWH in 2014 and leads the company in all strategic operations, interior design and construction management, financial performance, and keeping the rest of us from coasting off the tracks.
MIKE SANTOS (operations)
Emigrating from Portugal to Rhode Island at age 5, Santos grew up imitating his mother on the phone as the official translator in all official business. inspired by years of travel and working abroad, Santos brings his passion for food, service, hospitality, and building positive cultures to all aspects of the day-to-day operations of LWH and our brands since joining LWH.
ARI KOLENDER (culinary)
A third generation Charlestonian, Kolender is the esteemed father of two pit bulls, an amateur motorcycle mechanic, and a shameless promoter of restaurant apparel from friends everywhere. Kolender joined LWH in 2019, and leads the company in all aspects of culinary development, developing kitchen talent, and generally making food that you can’t stop thinking about.
ALYSSA ZACK (design)
An amateur tennis player and lover of Portuguese tiles, Zack brings a lifetime of inspiration for making art, designing brands, and baking pies for our little family/team. Since joining LWH in 2019, Zack has given life to the brands of our venues and our clients, leading the company in all graphic design, logo creation, apparel art, and aesthetic direction.
EVELYN GORESHNIK (wine)
The child of Ukrainian and Russian Immigrants, Evelyn’s love for hospitality started at an early age with pickled watermelon contests, cooking Eastern European dishes with her grandmother, and watching the family drink vodka like water. As Wine Director for LWH, Evelyn is able to speak her love language of Riesling, while also sometimes allowing other varietals to appear on our wine lists. Goreshnik has a confounding love for sweltering heat, and is known to occasionally wear colors other than black.
MELISSA LÓPEZ
Melissa grew up under the blue skies and in the red dirt of Nogales, Arizona, where regular family gatherings included grandparents, tios, tias, and cousins galore. Melissa lives with her wife Courtney and their insanely cute daughter Quintana Esme, affectionately known as Quinnie, and manages to find time to act as our Chef Partner at Barra Santos and Shin’s Pizza. Melissa’s approach to food was shaped in part by some of LA and NYC’s most intense kitchens, but do not sleep on her Pozole or Tamales – it’s good to be her friend around the holidays.
JOE LARAJA
Joe still has t-shirts from fake restaurants he made up for film projects in High School on Cape Cod. Father to more cats than we care to admit, and best friend to everyone’s favorite person, Mike Boisvert, Joe is our managing partner at Found Oyster and Queen St. Raw Bar & Grill. If he isn’t charming the hell out of people at the restaurants, you may find him working with his mom and dad, pulling Little Namskaket oysters out of freezing Atlantic water to send directly to the platters at Found.
ERIC ALPERIN
Alperin first moved to Los Angeles in 2007 and quickly gained fame as the creator of the old fashioned cocktail. Somehow still young since his birth in the mid 1880’s, Alperin finally broke out while opening The Varnish with Cedd Moses and Sasha Petraske in 2009. A partner with LWH at the Red Dog Saloon and The Copper Room, Alperin spends his time opening bars of dubious origins, selling big blocks of ice, jumping out of planes, climbing mountains, and generally annoying his partners by being the only bar-owner without a belly. Read all about it in his recently published hit book, Unvarnished.
SHANNON INOUYE
A native Angeleno, Shannon spends his rare free time with his partner Veronica and their two pups, Ringo and Pearl. Growing up in a musical family, Shannon’s approach to life has been shaped by music, mixed with years of running bars you’ve probably drank too much in. Although he may prefer to be your local tennis pro, Shannon is a managing partner at Caipirinha Bar in Los Feliz.
STEVEN ZAKARIAN
Happily married to his wife, Zoey, the two share their home with their beloved Chug, Zima. That’s half Pug, half Chihuahua for those not familiar with finely bred dogs. Zakarian’s love for hospitality was developed during a self-healing process after a failed WWE wrestling career, which fortunately led him to acting as a managing partner in Caipirinha Bar – what we believe to be an equally noble vocation.
RORY CAMERON
Intensely prideful of his birth in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Cameron’s path to LA included stops in the Middle East, Australia, France, Canada, and Texas before settling down with his border collie, rottweiler mix, Bruno. Rory’s early inspiration for cooking came from summer holidays with his mother’s family in Spain, where cook-outs were a nightly occurrence. As the Chef of Caipirinha Bar, Rory spends much of his time desperately seeking rare Brazilian ingredients, fighting with a problematic sausage maker, and making vibrant food that lead to multiple Caipirinhas and regular hangovers.
JOHN BORGHETTI
John was opening restaurants when the rest of us were twinkles in our parents eyes. He’s still got more energy and a better wine cellar than all of us, however. Growing up in an Italian family in Brazil, John immigrated to the USA and eventually launched his own Hollywood Tour Bus company for Portuguese speaking visitors. In 1988, John opened the first of many Farfalla’s, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of LA – the first restaurant on the east side to embrace hand made pastas and wood-fired cooking. As a founding partner in Caipirinha Bar, John is an icon among us.
MIKE FRENCH
The most thoughtful man in leading others into good times, Mike was encouraged to chart his own way in life, which somehow brought him from Portland, Oregron to Pioneertown, CA, and beyond. French is one of the founders of Life & Times, a High Desert DJing icon, a professional lights and music adjuster, and partner in the Red Dog Saloon and The Copper Room. If you’re very lucky, you’ve experienced any version of a spa day with Mike.
XANDRE BORGHETTI
Xandre was in the restaurant business before he was even born. Xandre’s early memories of topping pizzas and watching dough spun into the air at his father, John’s, Italian restaurant Farfalla on La Brea set him on a winding path through some of LA, San Francisco, and NYC’s most celebrated restaurants. That said, Xandre would rather be playing guitar and piano in small European clubs. As a founding partner in Caipirinha Bar, Xandre can often be found there with a group of friends and family, bellied up to the bar.
ANNIE DANIEL
You may have seen Annie eating noodles on a billboard – looking good doing it. Born in Thailand, Annie’s journey (which can only truly be conveyed by Annie, herself) eventually led her to partnering with her cousin Katy to launch Rambutan Thai in the Silver Lake neighborhood – eventually pivoting into Same Same Thai. If you happen to be lucky enough to share a bottle of wine and eating with Annie, you won’t have any question of what a natural host is really like.
JEFFERY BAKER
A born Indianian, Jeffery headed west to pursue the rare dream of becoming a Hollywood actor, and found himself as a managing partner of the Red Dog Saloon, The Copper Room, and co-founding member of Big Batch Co. Heavily influenced by Corvettes, Legos, Led Zeppelin, and Hulk Hogan, you can find Jeffery riding some combination of these things through the famous local dust. Always driven to get out into the wilderness, you can also find Jeffery building his home whiskey library with his wife Genevieve and their dog, Kyle – the unofficial mascot of the Red Dog Saloon.
KATY NOOCHLA-OR
Katy will beat you in Volleyball. That goes for pretty much anyone reading this. Raised in LA, Katy grew up in the still thriving, insanely delicious, and one of the city’s earliest Thai restaurants, Chao Krung. The founder of numerous Thai restaurant brands around LA, Katy and her cousin Annie partnered with LWH to create Same Same Thai. An avid traveler and diner, Katy explored a career in fashion before dropping back into the restaurant business like the rest of us – but she’s still out there hunting for the world’s best food/beach combos.
PHILIP STEFANI
Phil will blow your face off on guitar, but may just get you swinging to funk and disco if he’s leading the party from the DJ booth. As Chef Partner at the Red Dog Saloon and The Copper Room, Phil draws inspiration from his hometown of San Francisco, his adopted home in the high desert, skateboarding, punk rock, pro wrestling, and Muhammad Ali – which is to say, you want to try his food.
MATT FRENCH
Very few people leave Wall St for Mane St, Pioneertown – but that’s exactly what Matt French did. Joining his brother Mike as co-founders of Life & Times, Matt spends his time overseeing their properties in the High Desert and Whidbey Island, antique hunting, listening to records in a perfectly designed record-listening room, and wearing clothes that are obviously cooler than yours. Matt is taller than you, but also nicer, which is odd and makes the rest of us look bad.
JEAN MICHEL ALPERIN
Jean Michele is raising two children with his wife Sarah in the High Desert, and he probably slept a lot less than you did last night. As the co-managing partner of the Red Dog Saloon, The Copper Room, and co-founder of Big Batch Co, Jean Michele has served about 10,000 more Margaritas than anyone not named Tommy from SF. If you’ve never seen ginger juiced by the caseload before, spend a few days with “JM” and prepare to have your senses be amazed.
SHIN IRVIN
If you’re going surfing in the LA area this morning, Shin is probably already there. Shin’s path to becoming the founder of the acclaimed design firm, Folklor and partner with LWH on Shin’s Pizza is a better story than we can explain briefly – let’s just say it goes from South Korea to Philadelphia to LA, and that it ended with a beard that you could only envy. Shin really likes green.