This May, Lunetta in Santa Monica celebrates its 10th anniversary, marking a decade of one of the neighborhood’s most quietly influential restaurants, led by hometown chef Raphael Lunetta.

Born and raised in Santa Monica, Lunetta isn’t just another restaurant for Raphael.  It’s a continuation of a career deeply rooted in the city. From summers spent cooking in the South of France to early training in Parisian kitchens to shaping LA’s dining scene with JiRaffe (which ran for nearly 20 years), his story is one of longevity, evolution, and true local impact.

Since opening Lunetta in 2016, the restaurant has become a staple for approachable, produce-driven California cuisine, balancing neighborhood warmth with the technique and perspective of a chef who helped define modern LA dining.

But it’s been a rough road.

“The first two years it was gangbusters, we were hitting our numbers,” Lunetta tells LA Weekly in the kitchen’s walk-in. “Then Covid hit. We came to a complete halt, and I personally hit rock bottom. I didn’t know where life was going, and there were a lot of moving pieces in the world then.”

Lunetta

Raphael in the walk-in (Michele Stueven)

Lunetta

(Michele Stueven)

His close-knit team of five, including third-generation Santa Monican Hannah Hruby,  as well as Hugo Sanchez and Emilio Cuyuch, who have been with him for 38 years, powered through the pandemic together.   They pivoted with virtual dinners, tasting menus to go, and collaborated with childhood surfing buddy and fellow restaurateur  Josiah Citrin.

“We got through Covid, but things hadn’t gotten back up to where they were,” says Lunetta. “ We were still trying to make handmade pastas and keep up a standard that we learned at Patina and JiRaffe..  Then came the writers and actors’ strikes, which really affected a big piece of our clientele, followed by last year’s fires, which hit the restaurant industry hard. Now it’s the cost of goods, tariffs, and nobody wants to come to work because of ICE raids that make it so hard to run a business.”

Lunetta

Duck confit on the anniversary menu (Courtesy Lunetta)

The walk-in’s meticulously stocked, categorized, labeled, and perfectly brunoised contents from the farmers market that go into every dish illustrate the labor costs of menu items made to order. 

“We’ve cut back on staff with our prep, and I spend a lot of time on the line myself,” he says.  “There are days when I wake up in the morning and ask myself why we are chasing this.  I’m just not ready to give up on this yet. I enjoy being here and the connection with all of our regulars, friends, and family.”

That energy has reconfigured the Moon Room, one of the distinctly different dining spaces on the property, with a new steakhouse-style menu to celebrate the anniversary. 

There are four steaks to choose from: an 8-oz angus filet, wood-grilled hangar steak, the 14-oz New York with green garlic breadcrumbs, and a 16-oz  R.R. Farms ribeye, and plenty of sides like blistered organic spinach, roasted Japanese sweet potatoes, and baby white button mushrooms with shaved reggiano in white wine and Meyer lemon brown butter.

“I probably dwell on all the challenges about four hours a day, and the other six hours a day I try to keep positive with all the good stuff,” says Lunetta. “ Another three hours a day, I get to connect with guests and hear them, and I squeeze in an hour-long beach walk every morning. That’s what life is right now.  We still have smiles on our faces even though we’re getting our asses kicked.”

Lunetta

In the Moon Room (Courtesy Lunetta)

Here’s the Anniversary Taste Of Lunetta prix fixe menu, being served Friday, May 15. Saturday, May 16, and  Wednesday, May 20 through Saturday, May 23:

 

AMUSE

SWEET CORN AGNOLOTTI

sugar snap peas, shaved black truffle

FIRST COURSE

choice of:

MAINE DIVER SEA SCALLOP

maitake mushroom, escargot butter,

sweet onion herb salad

DUCK CONFIT

baby bok choy, Murray Farms cherries,

julienned leeks

MAIN COURSE

choice of:

WOOD GRILLED LOUP DE MER

swarnadwipa spice, sake citrus, wild herbs

BLACK ANGUS CENTER-CUT FILET

corn confit, ancho chili, umami torpedo onion,

white wine au jus

DESSERT

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING

vanilla ice cream, sticky toffee sauce,

candied pecans

$72 per person

minimum of two