Restaurateur Rose Previte doesn’t want to live in a city that doesn’t have “cool small businesses.”
So, as the Washington, D.C.-based restaurateur brings two of her restaurant concepts to Los Angeles, she has created a business model to help cool small businesses get a decent start.
That’s a fundamental motivation behind the Maydan Market, which she opened last week in Los Angeles. The 10,000-square-foot venue brings her restaurants Maydan and Compass Rose to the West Coast for the first time.
But in the same venue she has also brought in four other outside food businesses, from a Oaxacan concept specializing in tlayudas, to a Thai spinoff featuring charcoal-grilled chicken (gai yhang) and Acapulco-style tamales from a well-known food truck.
Previte’s goal is to give small operators a chance to get started at a time when costs are so extremely high.
At Maydan Market, the smaller vendors pay for the shared space on a percentage-rent model (20% of sales), though there’s no penalty if they don’t do well, she said.
“If you’re making money, then we’re making money. If you’re not, we’ll make less,” she said the vendors are told. “We’re with you in good times and bad.”
It sounds like a food hall. But it really isn’t.
Maydan has an area within the room, but it's open seating. | Photo courtesy of Kort Havens
All of the restaurants operate in the same (beautifully designed) room, with shared open seating and bars. There are no separate stalls, but each vendor has an area, and guests can order at each spot, if they prefer.
Or, at the door, they can also use a QR code to see all the menus. From that code, they can order across menus and sit where they like.
Some of the concepts run food to the tables, and others ask guests to pick up at the counter, notifying them by text.
The Michelin-starred Maydan, which is Previte’s higher-end concept and serves as an anchor for the market, has its own area within the room, but no walls. That restaurant does take reservations, but walk-in guests are also welcome.
Previte is trying to capture the energy and mixed-use experience of night markets like the Fez in Morocco, or similar public meeting spots in Mexico City, or Seoul. She also borrows from tapas bars in Spain, where guests can sit at the counter.
At the center of Maydan Market is a live-fire hearth, which serves much of Maydan’s menu of dishes like butterflied grilled branzino, turmeric chicken or a whole roasted cauliflower with tahini, zhough and za’atar.
Sharing the hearth is Lugya’h by Poncho’s Tlayudas, which began as a backyard popup and street vendor. A Oaxacan specialty, tlayudas are large tortillas grilled with pork lard, beans, cheese, cabbage and various meats. Lugya’h is a Zapotec word for “the face and the hearth of the plaza.”
Lugya'h shares the hearth with Maydan. | Photo courtesy of Ashley Randall.
Previte said she carefully selected the vendors, who were invited to come into the space to capture the melting pot that is LA.
There’s also Yhing Yhang BBQ, a spinoff of the Thai restaurant Holy Basil by Chef Deau Arpapornnopparat. Yhing Yhang features gai yhang, or marinated and charcoal-grilled chicken, but also grilled duck, Thai skewers and house-fermented condiments.
Then there’s Maléna by Tamales Elena, created by the family behind the Tamales Elena food truck, which has operated in Watts for decades. Maléna showcases the tradition of Afro-Mexican cuisine from Guerrero, with dishes like relleno (roasted pork) and the pork-broth soup pozole.
The vendors have different leases. Most have signed on for just a few years, though one outlet is a residency that will change monthly (or bi-monthly). Currently it’s Melissa Cottingham’s Melnificent Wingz, a Southern chicken wing concept, but next up is an Italian concept. One goal is to feature women-led projects.
Maléna is operated by a family known for its food truck. | Photo courtesy of Ashley Randall
And Maydan Market will also include a Middle Eastern retail market called Sook, where guests can find packaged goods, olive oil, tahini and spices featured in the restaurants, as well as grab-and-go options that they can take to go, or eat at the 22-seat counter there.
Odilia Romero, co-operator of Lugya'h, said it's near impossible to find investors who will support indigenous concepts like hers—though non-indigenous chefs will win awards for using the same techniques.
At Maydan Market, however, chef Alfonso "Poncho" Martinez can share his food, recipes and traditions in a beautiful space, more like mercados back home.
"And the hearth is beautiful," Romero said. "It gives us a big opportunity to cook how we traditionally cook."
There’s also a shared prep kitchen and walk-ins, and other shared services, like dishwashing and valet. Vendors can have their own appliances, and even apply for their own liquor licenses, if they prefer.
“It’s like living in a group house or dorm,” said Previte. “Everyone has allotted time for certain equipment that is shared.”
The idea for Maydan Market’s business model first took shape during the pandemic, when the restaurant community came together like never before to survive that crisis.
“I didn’t want to lose that energy of helping each other,” she said.
When Previte first opened Compass Rose in D.C. in 2014, the process of “raising capital, securing a lease, finding a guarantor—that all felt impossible at 34-years old, without owning a lot of property or having a big bank account,” she said.
Back then, she found a business partner and mentor who helped her navigate all of that. But Previte went on to earn critical acclaim for both Compass Rose, and later Maydan. In addition to the Michelin star (in 2020), Maydan was nominated by the James Beard Foundation as Best New Restaurant (semifinalist 2018) and for Outstanding Wine Program (2022). Previte also operates a cocktail bar called Medina.
Since the pandemic, however, opening a restaurant has gotten so much harder, said Previte.
She feared the country would start to lose those small food-and-beverage concepts that so enrich neighborhoods—particularly immigrant-run concepts. Previte grew up in Ohio, but she comes from a Lebanese-Italian immigrant family.
Creating opportunities for immigrants is more important now than ever, she said, given “the horrors” coming out of Washington.
“This stuff won’t exist, if some people have their way,” she said. “So this is our little bit of resistance.”
Yhing Yhang is known for its charcoal-grilled chicken or duck. | Photo courtesy of Kort Havens
For Previte, Maydan Market’s model is also a way to be discovered by Angelinos, who might not be familiar with her D.C. restaurants.
“People might know Poncho or Yhing Yhang, but they don’t know Maydan,” she said. “I’m very humble about the fact that I’m new to town, so I appreciate the introduction through this shared space.”
In D.C., Compass Rose is currently closed and will soon be rebranded with a new name.
The Compass Rose in Los Angeles, meanwhile, is an all-day menu, specializing in Lebanese breakfast dishes and khachapuri. In the evening, it’s more about cocktails and natural wines.
Previte hopes to be able to expand her concepts. But growth, for her, is not about taking a concept to a certain market.
“I tend to find buildings that I love, and then I decide the concept that should go into them,” she said. “You know from Business 101 that’s not what you should do, but that’s what I do.”
Her operating company, No White Plates, is ready for growth, she said.
But she hasn’t fallen in love with another building just yet.