Bar Fortuna, the Italian cocktail and wine bar that Ocean Park native Brian Bornemann opened on Main Street two weeks ago, begins staying open until midnight Wednesday, a block from the water in the neighborhood where he grew up.
Starting Wednesday, the bar at 2917 Main St. will serve wine, cocktails and beer until midnight after its kitchen closes at 10 p.m. Walk-in seating opens at 9:30 p.m. Extended kitchen hours are planned, but no start date has been announced.
Bar Fortuna opened Oct. 21, a block from Crudo e Nudo, the sustainable seafood restaurant and biodynamic wine bar Bornemann also owns. The bar is open 5 p.m. to midnight Wednesday and Thursday, noon to midnight Friday and Saturday, and noon to 10 p.m. Sunday. The bar recently added daytime hours Friday through Sunday, opening at noon, and plans to eventually be open all day, every day. Hours and reservation times are posted on the restaurant's website.
"Living close to the beach has always been important to me and my peace of mind," Bornemann said. He has lived in Italy, New York, Colorado and other parts of Los Angeles, but said the Ocean Park and Venice corridor "has always felt the most like home."
"I would not have been interested in opening Bar Fortuna in WeHo or Echo Park," he said. "As much as I enjoy those parts of town, commuting is just not for me. I feel so lucky that I can have two expressions a block away from each other and a block away from the water."
His restaurants are part of a revival that has made Main Street a dining destination. Bornemann said the street has benefited as Abbot Kinney grew too expensive for independent businesses and downtown Santa Monica became, in his words, "a dangerous ghost town."
"It's always felt a little more neighborhood and a little less big-box-touristy," he said of Main Street.
But he was sharply critical of the city. "Unfortunately, the city still makes it so hard for me and my peers to run our businesses, and while the new guard is talking change, we have yet to see any actual improvements," he said.
Bornemann said the city is raising costs and the sales tax while business owners still wash their own sidewalks, call to get trash picked up, pay for private security to protect staff and guests, and face "multiple dangerous interactions a day."
"We don't need to be spending money on new waste bins or electric signage when our guests can't safely walk back to their car a block away," he said.
Bornemann calls Bar Fortuna the "terrestrial sister" to Crudo e Nudo.
"While Crudo focuses on maritime local sourcing, Fortuna is about wheat, whole animals, and the products of farms and ranches from our bioregion," he said. Crudo e Nudo, with mostly outdoor seating, can feel "more coastal and sunny," he said, while Bar Fortuna, seated entirely indoors, is "more moody and cozy."
Extending the locavore approach of Crudo e Nudo, the new bar uses only California ingredients. There is no Parmesan or Pecorino; instead, cooks grate Broncha cheese from Petaluma over pastas and shaved vegetables. Pasta is made from Tehachapi Grain Project's Sonora flour, and produce comes from the Santa Monica Farmers' Market, where Bornemann has been going since childhood. Each week the kitchen butchers a whole lamb and a whole pig from California ranchers for pasta sauces, specials and a butcher's cut of the day.
Bornemann and chef de cuisine Jose Morales, who has cooked alongside him for more than a decade, rotate handmade pastas such as paccheri with guanciale, tomato conserva, red onion, chili and Broncha. Bar snacks include fried scamorza with tomato sauce and basil.
The menu draws on years Bornemann spent in Italy. As a UCLA student earning a bachelor's degree in European studies with a minor in Italian, he took an after-school kitchen job that led him to Tuscany and a yearlong stint at Osteria del Gatto in Siena. After graduating, he returned to study handmade pasta at Il Giusto Food & Wine in Castellanza, outside Milan. The bar pays homage to historic bars he discovered while living and cooking in Italy.
Bar director Noah Castellanos oversees more than 30 amari, seasonal cocktails and five negroni variations. Wine director J.D. Plotnick, a former chef at Michelin-starred Schwa in Chicago, offers more than a dozen wines by the glass and over 50 bottles from Italy and California, including rare older wines from his own collection.
Inside, a long white marble bar seats 14, and 12 small tables built by Bornemann's father line a painted brick wall. A working 1917 Victrola that plays Italian opera doubles as the host stand.
Online: Bar Fortuna on Instagram, instagram.com/barfortunala