Chef Ari Kolender knows his way around an oyster. His passion for seafood led to a partnership with Last Word Hospitality, with which he opened Found Oyster and, later, Queen’s Raw Bar & Grill in Los Angeles.
Charleston’s shellfish was largely off-limits to Kolender growing up. “I grew up in a kosher household, so I was pretty limited in what I was able to eat,” he says. “I didn’t really get to enjoy all of the amazing shellfish indicative of Southern Charleston until I was a bit older.” Restaurant jobs in high school introduced him to different cuisines and sparked an interest in hospitality and food culture. After a brief stint at the University of South Carolina, he moved to Los Angeles at 20 to attend Le Cordon Bleu.
“I went into culinary school wanting to open my own restaurant. That was always my goal,” Kolender says. “After graduating, I just hit the ground running and started working at restaurants around town, really embracing every outlet of learning available.” He eventually co-founded Hayden, a restaurant and wine bar in Culver City, and hired Last Word Hospitality’s Adam Weisblatt and Holly Fox as consultants. “The wine bar didn’t work out, but Adam, Holly, and I really enjoyed working together, so they mentioned an idea they had about a restaurant space they’d found in East Hollywood,” he adds. The three partnered to open Found Oyster in 2019.
In 2023, Kolender brought a taste of his hometown to Eagle Rock with Queen’s Raw Bar & Grill. “We are almost three now, and I feel like we are just now really hitting our stride,” he says. “It’s only getting better.”
