Meet Sabrina Bezaire | Restaurant Owner & Manager

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

Hi Sabrina, what role has risk played in your life or career?
“Risk can bring the biggest reward” was a quote from my college professor in my first business management class. That always stuck with me. I come from a family of entrepreneurs and although I saw my family struggle at times, having the freedom to make their own creative choices was ultimately rewarding even if the financial benefit wasn’t always there.

What should our readers know about your business?
Eszett is a wine bar and restaurant with 30 seats in a Silver Lake strip mall. My husband Spencer is the Chef and we opened in December 2019 right before the pandemic. We have both been working in restaurants for about 15 years. We’ve dreamt of opening our own place since we met each other 13 years ago. After working together at our last restaurant job for 6 years we finally took the leap and found a small restaurant in Silver Lake, the neighborhood where we met and had been working in and around for many years, so it felt right.
We used our own savings and went for it. Both of us are from LA, we wanted to create a space that felt like coming home but also could transport you. Local & seasonal produce cooked on charcoal, Spencer loves to grill and play with the flavors you get from cooking over wood. I wanted to focus on Austrian and California wines with my family background being Austrian. There are some many amazing natural wine producers from both regions.
The first couple months were exciting, it felt like our dream was coming true. We had assembled an incredible team, the wheels were turning. Then Covid happened and everything changed. We lost our entire staff almost overnight. We had very little name recognition at that point outside of locals and friends. We had to change our model to take out with a menu that wasn’t made for that. We built a hot sauce line called SBez Hot Sauce, Sbez is Spencer’s nickname, which we delivered around LA and gained a small following which helped us through some of the tough times. We eventually were able to build a patio which saved us, we were working alone for 10 months. After 2 years with a patio and full staff our landlord decided he didn’t want it anymore and we had to take the patio down, so now we are navigating this latest obstacle. Spencer and I are optimistic and hope that our original business model can prevail.
We learned a lot, running a restaurant takes a village and it was very hard and lonely without our team. We are so grateful to be fully operational again with an amazing team and to have an incredible manager Mara Herbkersman who is now doing our wine list as well lightening my load to be able to focus on the bigger picture, making Eszett sustainable. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to try to take it a day at a time and appreciate the small wins. In a small business and particularly in the restaurant industry challenges come daily. I’d like the world to know that we put a lot of love and intention in curating an environment that is welcoming with a menu that excites, comforts and hopefully has the essence of LA, a city that is not defined by one thing, it is the melding of cultures, flavors and influences.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I have lived on the east side of LA for many years and most of my adventures revolve around food.

Day 1 We would start at Kumquat in Highland Park for coffee, then walk down the street and grab a bagel at Belle’s Bagels.
Hop in the car and drive over to Altadena where Spencer is from and one of my favorite areas, take a hike in Eaton Canyon, grab some snacks & spirits at Altadena Beverage Co. for cocktails in the backyard during golden hour. Head back to Highland park for a stroll, check out Prelude and Dawn for some home decor, clothing, accessories, they have it all. Then head over to Frogtown for one of the best sandwiches at Waxpaper Co., from there we scoot to Chinatown and grab some flowers and wine at Heavens Market, all personally curated by the owner. Then we stroll downtown for a couple tacos at Sonoratown and get out before traffic picks up. Head back home for those cocktails, build up and appetite again and head over to Joy for the most delicious Taiwanese food around.

Day 2 Coffee and all the most delicious baked goods from Bub & Grandma’s new bakery, don’t leave without a loaf of bread for later, pop over to Milkfarm for everything cheese for that bread later in the day! Drive over to Echo Parks to Nooworks for some shopping, now it’s time to wine and dine at Eszett!! For a night cap or late night party check out The Friend

Most if not all of the mention shops are independently owned, many are owned by friends and colleagues.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My dad, he was a single father and an immigrant who had to overcome many obstacles throughout his adult life. He was an artist and studied jewelry design in Austria. He met my mom on the East Coast, they moved to LA and opened their own small jewelry boutique in Hollywood a dream of my dad’s. My mother was diagnosed with cancer and passed when I was 2 years old. My dad had to adapt many times of the years to take care of me and make his business survive but he never gave up and always figured out a way forward even in the most difficult of times. He passed away when I was 22 years old and he has been my guiding star.

Website: https://www.eszettla.com/

Instagram: @eszettla

Image Credits
Dylan + Jeni Jakob Layman Devin Pedde