The concept, inspired by La Jolla’s coastal surroundings, is chef and co-owner Elijah Arizmendi’s take on hyper-seasonal, hyper-local dishes.Â
After months of construction, fine dining restaurant Lucien is now open, in the former third-floor Sushi on the Rock spot in La Plaza on Girard Avenue.
Lucien is the new venture of chef Elijah Arizmendi, Brian Hung and Melissa Lang, a 30-seat restaurant featuring a 10- to 14-course tasting menu, with two seatings per night, focusing on hyper-seasonal, hyper-local food highlighted in a dynamic manner.
Lucien by Kimberly Motos
Arizmendi’s resume includes Spago, Michelin-starred Robushon, Restaurant Daniel, Gunter Seeger, Per Se and most recently, L’Abeille in Tribeca, which earned a Michelin star within 6 months of opening.
The Sacramento-born chef was eager to return to California, he told lajolla.ca in April. The menu, which will rarely repeat, is a showcase of local ingredients influenced by Arizmendi’s global experience in a high-touch service setting.
Hung and Lang, who are married, moved recently to San Diego from New York, where Hung worked with Arizmendi at Per Se and the two would talk about their shared ambitions to have a restaurant in California.
The dream is now a reality, as Lucien begins serving its upgraded tastes of the region to its reservations in a La Jolla-inspired dining room overlooking The Village.
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