The corner of Barrington and San Vicente in Brentwood continues to boom, and this summer is no exception. The flurry of openings has included La La Land, Layla Bagels (coming soon) and Malou Coffee, drawing crowds that spill out onto the sidewalks. Sandwiched in between, two more newcomers have arrived, but this is not matcha lattes or bagels. The latest culinary duo comes in the form of just-opened swanky hand roll spot Sora Temaki Bar and Tavlin, a convivial sibling eatery specializing in Middle Eastern fare with a market component, launching later this summer.
The new dining destinations may be unique to the area, but the owner is certainly not a novice to the restaurant scene. Vicente Benoliel is the founder of Savta Hospitality, which includes Sora, Santa, The French Crepes and Pasta Corner at The Original Farmers Market at The Grove, and Michelina Bakery, which also has a location at The Americana at Brand.
The concept behind Sora centers around a uniquely u-shaped, open-faced temaki-style hand roll filled with warm sushi rice and pristine seafood, but this is far from a traditional sushi bar. The menu showcases premium Japanese fish such as toro, yellowtail, lobster and Ora King salmon, as well as Wagyu, crispy rice, sashimi, crudo and robata skewers, alongside inventive vegan options including Japanese eggplant and Sanmaruko croquette hand rolls. Standouts include the Kumamoto red snapper with cilantro, olive oil, truffle salt, spicy yuzu and cucumber as well as a decadent trio of toro, Hokkaido uni and caviar. Throughout the menu, beautifully simple preparations allow the ingredients to speak for themselves. Cocktails, sake, wine and beer on draft round out the experience, with the beverage program featuring everything from Matcha Martinis to specialty non-alcoholic offerings, while desserts include made-to-order gelato.
At the new Brentwood location, the minimalist space is highlighted by an impressive wrap-around sushi counter that anchors the room, where guests can sit surrounding the chefs as hand rolls are prepared moments before serving. Creamy marble countertops, light wood paneling and soft neutral tones create an atmosphere that feels both elevated and inviting—sleek and elegant, but still energetic and approachable. While Benoliel may have pioneered the now increasingly popular open-style hand roll concept in Los Angeles—there have already been copycats—his ingredients remain what truly set Sora apart. “I use premium supplies, produce and most of my fish is flown in from the Tokyo or Kyoto fish markets in Japan, along with my rice and seaweed,” he says. “The quality is everything.”
After opening the original Sora a little over a year ago as a tiny rooftop space tucked inside The Original Farmers Market, Benoliel was eager to grow the concept to Brentwood. The first location quickly developed a devoted following despite its compact 900-square-foot footprint and intimate 12-seat sushi counter. The new Brentwood restaurant expands the concept dramatically into a 2,500-square-foot space in the former Contempo Floor Coverings location, now divided between Sora and neighboring Layla Bagels. The dining room seats roughly 80 guests indoors, including the 36-seat wrap-around temaki bar and a separate 12-seat beverage bar, alongside additional banquette seating and a lively outdoor patio designed for long summer evenings. A walk-up cocktail window opening onto the patio adds to the breezy, social atmosphere.
“Sora was such a success, I didn’t want to wait,” says Benoliel. “I always wanted to be in Brentwood. It's a village in a big city. You're 15 minutes from the water, or 15 minutes from the city—it’s right in the middle. The clientele is amazing, the community is good and it’s safe. I just love it, and I’d love to live here.”
While the Brentwood location is much larger and sleeker, Benoliel intentionally kept many of the same finishes and materials as the original, including engineered wood flooring and Taj Mahal stone countertops. The neutral palette and pared-down aesthetic feels clean and modern but still relaxed and energetic—more reminiscent of a lively Tokyo izakaya than a formal omakase experience.
Vicente moved to Los Angeles about 10 years ago after selling his successful wholesale bakery business, Macaron, in Miami. “I had a non-compete on the East Coast,” he says. With clients ranging from Air France and Qantas to Disneyworld and Disneyland, it was time to head west. “I was going to take a year off work and just chill,” he recalls. Turns out, being idle is not in Benoliel’s DNA. After arriving in Los Angeles in 2016, he quickly launched a new bakery and hospitality business, eventually adding clients including The Peninsula, Beverly Wilshire, The West Hollywood Edition and Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills.
Growing up in Paris with Algerian-Jewish parents, Benoliel’s culinary zeal began early. “I cooked all the time with my grandmother since I was six or seven years old,” he recalls. “We made all the Middle Eastern food from scratch. I really fell in love with food because of her.” Benoliel began his career in New York and later moved to Miami, where he oversaw as many as 16 restaurants, including 14 branches of Le Boudoir French bistro, while operating a massive wholesale bakery business servicing luxury hotels throughout Florida.
In Los Angeles, Benoliel opened Michelina Bakery at The Original Farmers Market before expanding into additional retail concepts there, including the popular Savta pizza concept and eventually Sora. He later sold the wholesale arm of the company to Rick Caruso shortly before the pandemic, beginning what has become an ongoing partnership. Today, Savta Hospitality operates concepts tied to several Caruso properties, including The Grove and The Americana at Brand, with additional projects already in development, including multiple eateries planned for Caruso’s upcoming Lakes project in Thousand Oaks—and reportedly Palisades Village as well. Benoliel’s wife, jewelry designer Laura Sayan, also has a pop-up at The Americana and showcases her designs at Rosewood Miramar Beach in Montecito, another Caruso property. “It’s not only Rick—it’s the whole team,” says Benoliel of the tight relationship. “I’m very close to them. He has a beautiful team, and they’ve all been with him for 20-plus years.” He says many of them still regularly visit his restaurants at The Grove.
But for now, Benoliel’s focus is firmly on Brentwood—and if the lively crowds and packed sushi counter are any indication, Sora has already become one of the neighborhood’s biggest dining hits. Between the flowing cocktails, warm interiors and hand rolls arriving as fresh as can be, the restaurant feels less like simply another sushi spot and more like the kind of transportive dining experience people immediately want to return to again and again.
Sora Temaki Bar
908 S. Barrington Ave.
323-287-5555
sorarestaurant.com