For the past 5 years, Chef Laurent Quenioux and his team “LQ Foodings” has resided in Highland Park, featuring their “Ma Maison” dinners. Chef Laurent invited guests into a private home and featured a tasting menu that has been called some of the best underground dining in Los Angeles. Over the years the team has focused on seasonal menus with produce from local farms and purveyors. 

With the current change in the economy and unforeseen circumstances, the team had no choice but to look into a new location. Of course, Chef Laurent started to look into homes within the LA area but the options were beginning to dwindle in order to find a viable space to use for the Ma Maison pop up dinners, but that was also within the budget. Unfortunately, the market in LA was not going to work out. So the tough decision came to venture out east. After many months of searching and finding funding, a new location was finally procured.

The new location is situated between the 71 and 91 freeways 20 minutes from Irvine (at the county line). Many people are unfamiliar with the area, but the space and location fit all of the needs for the team. We are excited to be entering a new market but are also hoping that our LA customers will make the trip out to the new location. Although it seems far, because again people are unfamiliar with the area, in comparison to the traffic that we deal with in LA the traffic and distance isn’t that much further off. Most Los Angelenos are used to spending up to 1 to 2 hours in traffic daily to get anywhere within the LA borders, why not spend that time and venture to a new area?  

The new space will allow the team to feature much more than ever before. The inside seating will allow guests a first-hand look at the kitchen as well as limited kitchen bar seating at the Chef’s Table. The space will be very interactive and give guests an insight to how the team creates and cooks such a wonderful tasting menu. During the summer our patio area will invite guests to enjoy a beautiful view of the surrounding hills and vibrant sunsets – also separate seatings will be available. Being in such a new and creative space, the team is excited to share new menu items as well as take-home items that will be available for purchase in our pop-up shop after dinner. As we do understand that some people may be driving further out, we want the experience to be nothing compared to other LA eateries. We truly do hope as a team to flourish in our new location, and that it becomes an inviting space for our guests, collaborations, cooking classes and so much more.

“House-made Breads”

As part of our new creative outlets we have begun to experiment with more bread making from scratch. The team will be using their own starters along with a variety of different styles of breads from different cuisines.

“Promo Codes + Discounts for Returning Guests” 

We understand that the majority of our existing customer base is from further out in Los Angeles, so we would like to extend to our returning guests an incentive to visit our new location. We will be looking into discount codes with Uber directly for guests who are willing to travel together to split costs.

“Extended Tasting Menus + Additional Desserts + Vegetarian tasting once a month” 

Since this new location is a new venture for us, we would like to use the opportunity to make a change ourselves. Being a group of creative minds, we would like to entice guests with new menu items, extended tasting menus and even additional desserts. We want guests to experience something different than the traditional restaurant setting.

LQ has been a pioneer on many occasions, and in numerous locations. His vision has proven him right and others have followed where he first trod. In 1983 he opened 7th Street Bistro in Downtown Los Angeles. Most people thought he was insane to open a restaurant in that location, but it turned out to be a huge success from day one until it closed 10 years after fighting the metro rail construction. Then came Alhambra and South Pasadena, leading the way in to the San Gabriel valley in the early 2000s, followed by the opening of Bistro LQ on Beverly Boulevard, revamping the area and paving the way to many trendy eateries in the area today! 

Of course then came @ MaMaison pop-up at the home in Highland Park and once again, 10 years prior to the trendy area that Highland Park became. Once again LQ was ahead of the curve! He now believes that the future of the most interesting new food trends will come from the 91 corridor, from Costa Mesa to Riverside via the Pomona area including Claremont and the surrounding towns. This will become the best place to enjoy great foods and local gastronomy!