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Issa Rae is Opening a Pizzeria and Bar in Downtown L.A.

Kate Amsbry April 29, 2025

Can a little star power help revive Downtown’s struggling restaurant scene? Actor and writer Issa Rae—along with cofounders Yonnie Hagos and Ajay Relan—is opening a pizzeria and bar at 718 South Hill Street inside the same historic early-20th-century building that houses Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen and Lost, a rooftop cocktail and taco bar that opened last September.
 
Named Downtown Dough, the restaurant’s menu will be centered around the space’s wood-fired pizza oven, with dishes incorporating seasonal produce. Think classic, nostalgia-inducing dishes like cheesy garlic bread made from toasted focaccia, crispy Old Bay calamari and banana pudding tiramisu. Guests can also expect clever twists on cauliflower pizza and lobster pasta.
 
Two years ago, GVO Hospitality—the group owned by Hagos and Relan—first debuted the fourth location of Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen within the space, which previously housed the short-lived Gusto Green (pictured below). Now, after 6pm, venue will flip into the 179-seat Downtown Dough.
 
Photograph: Time Out/Patricia Kelly Yeo The dining room of the previous tenant, Gusto Green.
 
Rae has also previously collaborated with GVO Hospitality on Somerville, a soul food-inspired jazz club in View Park-Windsor Hills that opened last fall.
 
Downtown Dough’s first day of service for is slated for this Saturday, May 3; look out for reservations on OpenTable.
 
Downtown Dough
 
718 S Hill St.
Los Angeles, CA 90014
Wed–Sun 6–11pm

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