This Brilliant Los Angeles Raw Bar Evokes a Seaside Cavern
Chef Avner Levi and designer Brandon Miradi recently unveiled Cento Raw Bar, a transportive seafood destination sheathed in sculptural, grotto-like plaster
Raw bars tend to involve eating with one’s hands: shucking oysters, peeling shrimp shells, scooping ceviche, and perhaps even indulging in a caviar bump. Tactile intimacy informs the entire experience at the newly opened Cento Raw Bar in Los Angeles, from Chef Avner Levi’s snacky menu of savory shareables to the transportive grotto-like interiors dreamed up by designer Brandon Miradi, who enveloped the dining room in sculptural plaster to evoke the atmosphere of a pristine Mediterranean cave.
“Touch became naturally important for me to develop,” Miradi tells Galerie of the bubbling walls, which could easily spark comparisons to the organic cave-like interiors masterminded by Valentine Schlegel and Savin Couelle. Their rough-hewn surfaces practically beg curious hands to reach out and feel the textures for themselves. Miradi sheathed the entire 2,000-square-foot dining room in the material, hand-worked into curves that catch and bend light like sea foam or brushstrokes, shrouding the bar in a soft halo of illumination.
Cento Raw Bar arrives as an instant hit from Levi, the ascendant restaurateur who honed his culinary craft under chefs Ori Menashe and Steve Samson before launching his own pasta pop-up at Mignon Wine Bar in Downtown Los Angeles. His dishes quickly developed a cult following thanks to their slow-simmered sauces, house-made dough, and long infusions of flavor, which encouraged the burgeoning young talent to finally develop his own restaurant, Cento Pasta Bar, in 2021. Recognition from the Michelin Guide followed two years later.
Located next door, Cento Raw Bar proposes an entirely different culinary philosophy. “Seafood, especially raw and lightly dressed preparations, demands restraint and precision,” Levi tells Galerie. “It’s less about layering and more about revealing—finding ways to highlight the natural sweetness of a scallop or the briny brightness of an oyster without overpowering it.” That principle drives an artful menu reflective of the casual “apps over entrées” style of eating favored by Angelenos. “The way people dine here—ordering a few plates at a time, sharing everything, staying for hours—really shaped the way I built the menu,” he continues, noting how the bar doesn’t accept reservations. “[It has] to invite people in, make them want to linger, order another drink, and keep the food coming in waves. It’s a place where conversation, plating, and eating all happens at once.”
Meant to be enjoyed in successive waves, the fare highlights crudo, ceviches, and shellfish dishes, including a lobster melt pressed with yellow cheese, shiso-topped uni tacos crowning indulgent shellfish towers, and a piquant hearts of palm ceviche with avocado and chili cilantro. “I didn’t want to do a traditional New England–style seafood concept; that already exists,” Levi says. “What I wanted was something that felt more like my style of cooking: bright, floral, acidic, herb-driven.” Cold pasta dishes, such as a casarecce with clams and serrano and a squid ink uni pasta with crab and lime, naturally supplement the offerings.
Interiors likewise eschew obvious nautical tropes; instead, Miradi pulled inspiration straight from the source. “Brancusi was a reference just as much as the foam I’d see gather by my feet next to the ocean,” he recalls, channeling sensory memories to achieve a chilled-out oceanic mood through subtle details like custom bar stools with spiraling shell-shaped backrests. “I’m a nerd when it comes to the psychology of perception and how that impacts how we eat, use, and ultimately enjoy restaurants,” admits Miradi, who spent 15 years consulting for Two Michelin Star restaurants Vespertine and Somni, as well as Frieze Art Fair.
He agonized over every material and accessory, from glassware he meticulously selected for each cocktail, Japanese fabrics he hand-picked for custom uniforms, and lustrous ceramic flower vases he threw and glazed himself. To wit: the Trone bath fittings and Clayp lighting fixtures mark both brands’ debut in a Stateside project. The true centerpiece is the sea foam–hued bar: a spatial and operational engine that seats 20 of the restaurant’s 88 guests. “It’s not just where the food is plated—it’s where the energy begins,” Levi says. “It’s loud, it’s fast, and it’s where you can watch oysters being shucked and uni being spooned into shells. I wanted it to feel like a theater for seafood.”