It’s not just film and TV production that’s fleeing Los Angeles… Even the town’s hot spots are picking up stakes, or in this case, A5 Wagyu Steaks!
Beverly Hills celebrity haunt Crustacean — a favorite of stars over the years from Barbra Streisand to Flea, Samuel L. Jackson and Diane Warren — shutters for good at the end of the month and will flee California to open multiple locations in other states.
The reason? A new landlord and the general cost of doing business in LA County which has caused a wave of restaurant closures over the past 18 months. (The California Post reported last month that there has been a “restaurant bloodbath” around town, with at least five fave eateries calling it quits thanks to soaring rent, food and labor costs and sluggish foot traffic, along with the lingering fallout from the pandemic, Hollywood strikes and the 2025 wildfires.)
The Beverly Hills haunt wrapped up a farewell weekend that included several VIP-packed dinners as the family-owned Asian fusion spot famed for its garlic noodles and roasted Dungeness crab wound down.
“There were a lot of tears,” said a source who was present for several of the going away dinners that brought out attendees such as “Crazy Rich Asian” writer Kevin Kwan, former “The View” host Lisa Ling and Kiss frontman Paul Stanley, plus a number of industry executives.
Back in July when news of Crustacean’s closing first broke, the An family, which first opened the restaurant at the corner of Santa Monica and Bedford back in 1997, was eyeing new digs in Calabasas and Pasadena.
Page Six Hollywood has learned that the restaurant will now be leaving the state altogether — setting up new outposts in Atlanta, Sun Valley and Honolulu.
But there’s also still a plan for a Crustacean pop-up at sister restaurant AnQi Bistro in South Coast Plaza in late November.
One special guest on hand for a weekend going away dinner was Roman Peete, son of former NFL quarterback Rodney Peete. Roman’s mom, actress Holly Robinson Peete, went into labor while dining at Crustacean back in 2005 — and was whisked off to the hospital to give birth to her third child.
You can still order takeout this week from Crustacean, but then it’s a wrap.