One of LA’s most beloved pop-ups is finally getting ready to settle down at their new forever home, as Bridgetown Roti is coming to East Hollywood.
For over a year, fans of Chef Rashida Holmes and her widely acclaimed pop-up Bridgetown Roti have been awaiting news on the restaurant finding a permanent home. Now, we have some more clarity on when and where Bridgetown Roti will move into their new long-term space: They’re moving to East Hollywood, and they’re planning on opening in early 2024.
Make no mistake: Bridgetown Roti is no ordinary pop-up. Chef Rashida Holmes was honored as a James Beard Foundation Award finalist earlier this year, she won Esquire magazine’s Pop-up of the Year Award in 2021, and she’s been recognized by the likes of the LA Times, Eater LA, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal for her inventive Caribbean-American cuisine.
Holmes got her start in the restaurant business in 2008, working full-time at a restaurant in Baltimore while attending culinary school. After brief stints at restaurants in Pittsburgh, she moved to Los Angeles in 2013 and became chef de cuisine at Terrine in West Hollywood. Holmes quickly rose through the ranks of LA’s hyper-competitive culinary scene, and she eventually landed executive sous chef roles at Freehand hotel and Botanica in Silver Lake.
As restaurants shut down during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Holmes launched a new business: With the help of her wife Shanika, Chef Rashida began selling Caribbean-style patties (or hand pies) from her home, then expanded to additional dishes—such as channa and sweet potato roti, callaloo greens with smoked dashi broth, green curry shrimp, and fish cakes—that pay homage to her family’s Barbados roots. From there, Bridgetown Roti continued to explode in popularity, and Holmes began to expand her own Bridgetown Roti team while moving into a commissary kitchen in the Downtown Arts District.
Since then, Bridgetown Roti has delighted Angelenos by launching pop-up shops across the LA Basin, from Benny Boy Brewing in Lincoln Heights to Ester’s Wine Bar in Santa Monica. More recently, they’ve been booked and busy with a host of pop-up events that you can keep up with by checking their calendar.
Though Bridgetown Roti hasn’t yet announced an exact opening date for their new permanent home, it’s widely expected that they will open early next year at 850 N. Vermont Avenue in East Hollywood, right across Vermont from the LA City College campus. When they open their permanent restaurant, customers can expect many of the same fan-favorite dishes from Bridgetown Roti’s pop-ups, plus the restaurant will add new dishes to the menu that have not been logistically feasible at the pop-ups.
As Bridgetown Roti continues work on their new space, we will provide updates on their grand opening in East Hollywood in the new year.
