First Look: Little Chance Brings Izakaya Modern to the Sunset Strip (Exclusive)

With a new concept from Per Se alum Erik Idos, the h.wood Group adds to its roster of buzzy "social dining" venues. Just don't call them "club-restaurants."

The nature of nightlife in Los Angeles has changed dramatically over the past decade. Where once raucous clubs with bottle service and packed dance halls dominated, today the scene is more about "clubs" (a term generally frowned upon, but one that describes the lively middle ground between restaurants and nightclubs). John Terzian and Brian Toole, founders of the h.wood group, know this changing scene better than anyone. So when it came to updating the space at Bootsy Bellows on the Sunset Strip—a glamorous club that opened in 2012 and catapulted wood to the top of the L.A. party scene—Terzian and Toole knew they wanted to switch to "social dining" (their term for restaurant club). "It's a restaurant with an atmosphere," Tull explained. "Where the music isn't too loud, it's not like a club, but it's a bit more elevated than a regular restaurant." H.wood has perfected this model in recent years with a string of similar restaurants such as The Nice Guy in Los Angeles, Hipp in Cleveland, Lady Delilah in Manhattan, and Harriet's in Nashville.

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In the former Bootsy Bellows space, the h.wood team settled on a certain type of restaurant they felt had been missing from the scene. "When we were promoters twenty years ago, all the best restaurants were Japanese - koi, and things like that." That's not to say there aren't great sushi restaurants in Los Angeles, he explained.

To begin with, Terzian and Toole hired Eric Eidos as their executive chef. Aidos is a Los Angeles native who spent the better part of the past two decades in Michelin-starred kitchens such as New York's Père S. and Jean-Georges before joining the Nobu team. Idos then helped open Nobu in San Diego and operated Nobu Hong Kong. It was there that Eidos decided to branch out and in 2014, he opened his restaurant – Chino – with the first location in Hong Kong and the second in Manila. When Eidos recently decided to return to the US, a friend put him in touch with h.wood. "They were looking for an executive chef," Eidos recalls. So I did a tasting earlier this year, and then they're like, "Okay, when can you come back?" The sooner the better."

"He blew us away," Toole said of Eidos. "His food is really extraordinary and different, and I don't think anyone in Los Angeles has seen anything like it."

The restaurant concept that emerged with Idos was a modern izakaya called Little Chance. "I do fun things like chicken karage, quail karage," Eidos said. All fish are sourced from Japan, flown in daily and dried in-house. There will also be a Wagyu stone ax dry-aged steak, which Toll praised for its 9-plus marbling rating. "We've removed all food restrictions," Tull continued. Right on the edge of Beverly Hills, "The older, money-spending crowd that appreciates fine dining and fine dining is the hardest audience to reach. And that's really the audience we're targeting."

Beyond Chef Eidos' kitchen, Little Luck's beverage program will be led by Kevin Lee, who also runs Shishi Bar in Miami. "All the drinks he drinks go well with food that I do well," Eidos said. Expect a cocktail menu with drinks like the lychee martini and old-fashioned drinks with Yamazaki whiskey and nori bitters. The beverage program will also include kakigori (Japanese shaved ice), such as kakigori negroni and passion fruit flavors with silver rum and shochu.

The tape itself has about 4,000 vinyl records that are played in rotation. Terzian said: There will be a DJ on Friday and Saturday night. And two great private dining rooms where you can do karaoke if you want. The rest of the space is an intimate mix of dark wood elements, hanging lanterns, and nods to celestial elements and the zodiac sign of Little Fortune's namesake: Ophiuchus, the serpent bearer.

The Sunset Strip may have changed since Brian Toole and John Terzian first started opening the bar. It has matured with them, but the small chance is proof that h.wood still knows how to make your night one to remember.