Dakota Weiss

Since being named “Best New Chef” by Angeleno magazine in 2006 as the Executive Chef at Jer-ne at the Ritz-Carlton Marina Del Rey, Dakota Weiss has become tour-de-force in Los Angeles’ culinary community.

In 2011, Dakota appeared on Bravo’s “Top Chef Texas,” while that same year she joined forces with Alan Nathan of Choice Hospitality Group, who recruited Dakota to helm its W Los Angeles – Westwood restaurants NINETHIRTY and The Backyard. In 2013 she opened Dakota’s POP Parlor, her own brand of innovative gourmet popcorn—recognized by Food Network as one of the “Top 30 Popcorns to Try in America” and CBS Los Angeles as “Best Popcorn in LA.”

Most recently, Dakota debuted Estrella, located in the heart of the Sunset Strip and inspired by the bohemian rock-and-roll days of Laurel Canyon in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Dakota’s menu contributes to the restaurant’s atmosphere of “hippie home” by focusing on shareable items, including small plates, the viral ‘rolling stone,’ family-style dinners, as well as her popcorn, which is now a staple of Estrella’s adjoining MA Theater and lounge.

Prior to opening Estrella, Weiss became consulting chef and part owner of Choice’s Sweetfin Poké, a fast-casual concept serving California-spun Hawaiian soul food that opened in 2015 in Santa Monica and has been named by LA Weekly the Best Poké in LA in 2015, and again in 2016. Additional outposts opened in Woodland Hills (October 2016), Larchmont (November 2016) and Westwood (February 2017), with another 2 new locations opening in the next 6 months, making her one of the most commercially successful women-owned restaurateurs in Southern California.