Pasadena Restaurant Bar Chelou Is Closing and the Eaton Fire Is Partially to Blame

After two years slinging innovative dishes, gathering awards and national mentions, and establishing a dining destination outside Old Town Pasadena, chef Doug Rankin’s ground-breaking restaurant Bar Chelou will close on February 16, 2025. Rankin decided not to extend his lease, which expires at the end of February. The chef tells Eater that Bar Chelou, which Eater LA named Best New Restaurant in Los Angeles in 2023, will eventually relocate to Denver, Colorado.

Rankin says several factors contributed to his decision to close. Bar Chelou’s landlord asked Rankin to renew a five-year lease. Though Rankin credits them with being cooperative while he ran the restaurant, he was reluctant to commit to that long of a period.

Pasadena also shares a border with Altadena, a neighborhood greatly impacted by the Eaton Fire. The devastating fire killed 17 people and destroyed 15,000 structures in the area; many Altadena residents were displaced or lost their homes. (Rankin’s parents were displaced by the Palisades Fire that raged at the same time.) Rankin says up to 30 percent of Bar Chelou’s regulars live in Altadena. The restaurant, he says, maintained a busy pace until January 7, when the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena. Though Bar Chelou was closed for only three days, when Rankin reopened on January 10, and in the weeks that followed, business began to lag — in short, customers were not coming in.

“We braced ourselves for a drop, knowing we would see a 20 to 30 percent decrease in business,” says Rankin. “But in reality, it was closer to 50 percent. I love this city so much and thought we’d be here forever. But you have to read the writing on the wall and cut your losses.”

Rankin opened Bar Chelou in January 2023. After he partnered with Whole Cluster Hospitality, Bar Chelou took over the former Saso space next door to the Pasadena Playhouse to prepare a menu that combined his Los Angeles influences with classic French training while also melding in Spanish, French, and Asian flavors served on small and large plates. Bar Chelou’s signature clam toast and carrots râpées with coconut dressing, lime, peanuts, and thin fried potatoes atop shredded carrots caught the notice of diners throughout the Southland, even those who wouldn’t ordinarily make the trek to Pasadena for a meal.

In its opening year, Bar Chelou made the Los Angeles Times 101 best restaurant list in 2023 and 2024, one of Eater’s 12 Best New Restaurants in America, and praise from the New York Times on its 25 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Right Now in 2023.

Though his dining room became one of Pasadena’s hottest spots, plenty of devotees followed Rankin from his former Bar Restaurant in Silver Lake. Rankin also brought over most of his Bar Restaurant kitchen team, including chef de cuisine Emilio Perez, his former pastry chef Raymond Morales (who now works at Wally’s in Beverly Hills), and sous chef Peton Johnson.

Before Rankin moves, he’ll cook in a pop-up capacity throughout Southern California, he says. Rankin finds inspiration right now in Denver’s dining scene, noting Los Angeles chefs who successfully opened new restaurants, including his former mentor, chef Ludo Lefebvre, who opened Chez Maggy in Denver in 2022. Though he plans to reopen Bar Chelou in Colorado, he still sees the possibility of returning to the Los Angeles restaurant community down the line. Rankin says that most of his original team is still intact, except several who moved on to projects more aligned with their passions. He’s quick to credit them for Bar Chelou’s success.

“Building the Bar Chelou brand has been an incredible experience and the concept will live on. I’m so thankful to my partners and my team and everybody that’s been a part of it so far,” says Rankin.

Wonho Frank Lee