Le Great Outdoor

Picture a restaurant where the kitchen is nothing more than a couple of grills, the dining room consists entirely of picnic tables, and every single seat is under the open California sky. That’s Le Great Outdoor, tucked into Bergamot Station’s parking lot in Santa Monica. By day, this industrial zone buzzes with art gallery visitors and Tesla charging. Come evening, the space transforms into something that feels less like dining out and more like attending the best backyard barbecue you’ve ever experienced.

The magic here lies in the farm-fresh approach to grilling. Vegetables pulled from the ground that morning get kissed by flames just feet from your table - broccolini glazed in miso vinaigrette, asparagus brightened with lemon and showered in edible flowers, corn on the cob soaking up chimichurri. The lamb chops arrive with nothing but rosemary, garlic, and perfect char, while the whole branzino is the kind of dish that stops conversation when it lands on the table. Everything comes out on shared trays, encouraging a communal dining style where flavors mingle and no one’s quite sure whose fork touched which dish.

This is a place where dogs roam free, babies toddle between tables, and groups of friends debate frequent flyer strategies over glasses of nebbiolo. The energy is relaxed and celebratory - the kind of meal where you eventually forget you’re at a restaurant at all. It feels more like a garden party thrown by a friend who happens to have professional-grade grilling skills.

Le Great Outdoor is perfect for impressing visitors who think they’ve seen everything LA has to offer, or for a first date when you want the setting to do some of the heavy lifting. The produce-forward menu keeps things on the lighter side while still delivering serious satisfaction. Just show up when the sun’s out - which, this being Los Angeles, means pretty much anytime.