The Oinkster
776 Vine Street, Los Angeles
Tel: 323-536-9248
Designers: Design, Bitches

If you find most new restaurants too sleek and cold, you need to visit the Oinkster, a new meat-centric Hollywood eatery from LA firm Design, Bitches. Among other things the duo was inspired by LA’s prolific burger joints, but wanted to create a space where diners would linger a little longer. The Oinkster’s original location is in Eagle Rock.

Inside what the designers call a “wonderfully strange” building that had been enlarged in piecemeal fashion over the years they uncovered existing wood rafters, brick walls, steel beams, and large windows. They inserted a colorful, eclectic arrangement of colors, textures, and spatial arrangements. Both the restaurant and its banquette-lined patio have been opened up significantly and connected to the surrounding area. The firm’s own graphics include red and white checkerboard patterns inspired by classic burger joints; blue and white checks inspired by Vans shoes, and a giant road sign easily seen from Vine Street.