Crossroads Kitchen
Los Angeles fine-dining vegan restaurant, opened by chef Tal Ronnen in 2013, that helped redefine plant-based cuisine as a fine-dining category.
Crossroads Kitchen is an American fine-dining vegan restaurant, opened in 2013 on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles by chef Tal Ronnen and restaurateur Steve Viglione. The menu centers on Mediterranean small plates, pastas, flatbreads, and a seasonal tasting menu, with a full cocktail and vegan wine list.
Why it matters
Before Crossroads, upscale vegan restaurants in the United States typically framed themselves around health, weight loss, or dietary restriction. Ronnen’s design explicitly borrowed the sensory, service, and pricing vocabulary of ordinary fine dining — dim lighting, plated composition, a serious wine list, a bar program — and argued, successfully, that plant-based food could occupy that category. The restaurant has hosted high-profile private events and has been repeatedly covered by general-audience food press.
Menu character
Seasonal small plates, house-made pastas, flatbreads from a wood-burning oven, mains built around vegetables, grains, and legumes, and Ronnen’s signature plant-based “cheeses” (the Kite Hill line he co-founded).
Expansion
Crossroads opened a Las Vegas location inside Resorts World in 2023. The original Los Angeles restaurant continues to operate on Melrose. Both locations serve a fully vegan menu.