Los Angeles, California. If you live in LA, or even if you don’t, chances are good you may have heard of a restaurant called Here’s Looking At You.
Founded by two friends, Lien Ta and Jonathan Whitener, the restaurant first opened back in the summer of 2016.
It’s wasn’t long until Lien and Jonathan were raking in the awards for their restaurant tucked on a corner in Koreatown.
Just months after officially opening their doors, Here’s Looking At You was awarded “Best Restaurant of the Year” by Food & Wine Magazine, along with “Best Cocktail Bar in America.”
Things didn’t stop there though; Lien and Jonathan continued to rack up the accolades on their beloved local restaurant until things came to a screeching halt amid the pandemic.
Instagram; pictured above are Lien and Jonathan, the owners of Here’s Looking At You
It was March of last year that Lien and Jonathan had to shut down Here’s Looking At You over a power outage.
They managed to return for a few weeks over the summer, six weeks to be exact, before they were forced to close their doors on July 12th.
That day in July should have been a day for them to celebrate 4 years of being open, and instead, it was a crushing day.
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Lien and Jonathan had struggled to keep Here’s Looking At You going in light of the fact that they didn’t have enough customers to sustain their business.
“Shortly after our seemingly temporary closure on July 12, 2020, we were forced by our landlord to put the restaurant up for sale,” Lien and Jonathan revealed on their website.
“We hollowed out the restaurant and sold off sentimental things to keep up with monthly insurance payments, unrelenting tax fees, and more. But little did we know, the longest sale of all time would never close.”
Somehow, that sale never went through, and now Lien and Jonathan have another shot at reviving Here’s Looking At You with help from the community.
“And with all of our hearts and much mustered difficulty, we are hoping that you and everyone else that this restaurant has touched will be willing to help,” Lien and Jonathan explained.
“We are looking to our community to help us raise funds to resurrect this little corner restaurant. We want to restore this piece of Koreatown, LA’s most special neighborhood.”
“We want to get back to serving the frog’s legs, the beef tartare, and the shishito peppers. And by God, yes, the tomato dish! ALL the greatest hits for all the greatest guests.”
The duo is facing down an eye-watering $90,000 that they owe in back taxes, to say nothing of what it will financially take to re-launch.
Lien and Jonathan are aiming to bring back Here’s Looking At You next month, and the sooner, the better.
“We know that this is a big gargantuan ask,” they concluded. “But many of you have kept the faith that HLAY would revive itself again. And Chef and I thank you so much for holding onto hope when our broken hearts couldn’t.”
If you would like to donate to the GoFundMe Lien and Jonathan have launched to bring back Here’s Looking At You, you can do that here.