We had the good fortune of connecting with Natalie Dial and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Natalie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My husband and I both previously worked in healthcare before opening Tomat, and it was always in our 10-15 year plan to open a restaurant. Though the jump between hospitals to hospitality may seem bizarre, we share a deep passion for food and community that we were compelled to explore. In designing this business and space, our primary mission revolved around sustainability–we aimed to be as environmentally sound as possible, and also diversify our business model to give us the best chance of survival (in what is a very difficult sect of hospitality!). In this, we first started building a restaurant garden in 2020 when COVID shutdowns hit, which kicked off the crucial elements of contributing urban green space, growing our own food, composting to close the gap on food waste. Tomat itself opened late 2024, and is now functioning as an all-day restaurant with breakfast, lunch, and dinner services, a rooftop cocktail terrace, and a large private event space to host a variety of get-togethers. This diversity has been essential, as we see ebbs and flows of demand throughout the year–for example, when dinner reservations are slower during December and January, our event space ends up quite busy because of holiday parties. We also do a lot of fermentation and other techniques for flavor development and food preservation, which again draws on our backgrounds in science and ends up being really exciting to teach our team.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Tomat is a farm-to-table casual fine dining restaurant, with produce sourced as locally as possible. This includes fish–we’re friends with several local fishermen who catch right off the coast of Southern California, while most restaurants in LA will source their fish from elsewhere. And of course we have our own restaurant garden that’s productive throughout the year, but also source from Torrance Farmers Market to our south and Santa Monica Farmers Market to our north. We make as many things in house as possible–including soy sauce, miso, garum, and amazake from our koji fermentation program. House-made elements are infused into every single program at Tomat–coffee, food, and cocktails. Wine and spirits are really the only items sourced globally, for obvious reasons, but we rigorously research and select producers that have high standards of farming practices and are organic or biodynamic. Adhering to this ethos of sustainability is a challenge in and of itself, but it gives so much meaning to our food, business, and team. We are constantly evolving and learning, which makes coming into work each day fun and exciting. We want LA to know that our little niche by LAX is serving awesome food that we are really proud of, and we hope you taste and see the magic that goes into what we do.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We have a few favorites in South Bay that we frequent, like Otafuku, South Bay Jinmi, and Lunasia–we have a 3 year old who LOVES dumplings, and find that dim sum is always delicious and massively accommodating to toddlers. We also have a 2 month old, so we aren’t really going out much these days! But when friends visit, we always send them to Tire Shop Taqueria and Dudley Market. We live in Playa del Rey (the beach closest to Westchester), which is never as jam-packed as the other beaches around, so we also tell friends to go to Playa and bike along the path (both North and South are equally fun). Most of our friends and family have kids, so an outing at the Natural History Museum or Aquarium of the Pacific are excellent for littles. Right next to Tomat is The Book Jewel, an independent bookstore that has an incredible kids section, lots of author events and readings, and fun gifts to bring back home if someone is just visiting LA. So that’s usually one of our day stops (with a coffee and pastry from Tomat, obviously!). Favorite local breweries are Three Weavers and Smog City, both of which are great for families.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We opened Tomat in Westchester because of my family’s long history in this area–my great grandmother opened the first grocery store here on Sepulveda in the 1940’s, and my grandparents and mom dedicated their lives to development in Westchester. It’s a relatively unknown area in LA, but with a really vibrant business district and close-knit residents. My family has always been active in as many community efforts as possible, from the Business Improvement District (BID) to non-profits, schools, and locally elected officials. Their commitment to community has been a massive inspiration for us, and has helped our business in so many ways! We learn from and work with the BID and streetscape initiatives; we support and often host non-profits and schools locally; and have asked for help from our local officials to support us as a small business. We are so grateful to have had my family’s encouragement to get involved in the community and to create deeper meaning in setting down our roots here in Westchester.

Website: https://www.tomat.la

Instagram: @tomat.la

Facebook: @tomat.la

Image Credits
Zsuzsi Steiner, Ashley Randall, Danielle G. Adams, Natalie Dial

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.