Griffith Park Boulevard bends through the flats of Silver Lake, and where it meets Lucile Avenue, near Sunset Junction, a Romanesque bell tower has been keeping an eye on the neighbourhood since 1931. The pews have gone from the old Bethany Presbyterian Church, but the glass has stayed, and the apostles now look down on a bar, a crudo and a martini. Sous Sous opened in September 2026 with Hotel Lucile, and tables go early.
Two souths and a church
Casetta, the California group behind the Surfrider in Malibu and Casa Cody in Palm Springs, collects old buildings, and this is its sixth, taking in the church and its rectory. Scott Quintin's Romanesque Revival design has been a theatre and an antiques market, stood largely empty for most of the last decade and played a ruined church on television in Fear the Walking Dead. Heather Tierney, founder of The Butcher's Daughter, shaped the food idea. Patrick Costa runs the kitchen and Lee Zaremba the bar, the same pairing behind De La Nonna.
The pews have gone, but nobody has dared touch the glass.
The concept is two souths. Sous is French for under, and the menu sets Nice and Marseille beside Charleston and New Orleans: port towns, long summers, seafood and spice rather than heavy butter. In short, it is French cooking with a Southern accent, and the fish leads.
The room
Electric Bowery, the studio led by Lucia Bartholomew and Cayley Lambur, kept the original beams, the vaulted ceiling and the stained glass, and the nave is now the dining room. Tall shelves behind the marble bar echo an altar, and mossy green booths sit in alcoves. At either end hang Erin Lynn Welsh's murals: a deep red Eaton Canyon above the chancel stage, recalling the Altadena landscape burned in January 2025, and a green Elysian Park scene opposite. The hotel's rooftop opens to diners holding a Sous Sous reservation. Come as a pair for dinner, or as a group for drinks and a long look at the ceiling.
What to order
Start with the rainbow trout, the standout: a smoky blackened polenta crust in the Cajun manner where Marseille might have offered branzino. Before it, the hamachi crudo with Virginia peanuts and red pepper relish gives yellowtail a Deep South tang. Parisian gnocchi with yellow corn is the soft, comforting plate, and the zucchini carpaccio crowned with a ball of burrata is a cool, fresh counterweight. Pudding is a vanilla ice cream sundae with roasted banana.
The hedge is the kitchen itself. The French-American cooking trails the setting, the burger with dijonnaise is thick but slightly dry and the buttermilk dressing on the heirloom tomato salad is runny, so go for the drinks and the atmosphere. Dinner is the service for now, with lunch and a coworking loft due later in the year.
Drinks
The bar leans to New Orleans: an absinthe-rinsed Sazerac with toasted coconut, a frappé, a Brandy Crusta and a classic martini. The green tomato margarita, rimmed with espelette pepper and Old Bay, is the one to try. The apple negroni is the late-night favourite, the wines run bright, and the non-alcoholic list is generous.
Book early, take the table where the low western sun still reaches the apostles, and watch the boulevard outside turn gold.
- The vibe
- Candlelit church nave, marble bar, mossy booths, stained glass, lively even midweek.
- The food
- Blackened-polenta trout, hamachi crudo, gnocchi, carpaccio; seafood over butter.
- The drink
- Absinthe-rinsed Sazerac or the green tomato margarita with Old Bay.
- A tip
- Reserve early for afternoon light; rooftop opens to diners with a Sous Sous booking.
