Chef Brian Bornemann Opens Bar Fortuna in Santa Monica

Brian Bornemann opens Bar Fortuna in Santa Monica on Wednesday, October 21, placing an almost 40-seat Italian room at 2917 Main Street, three minutes on foot from his seafood restaurant Crudo e Nudo.¹ Bar Fortuna serves eight housemade pastas, all prepared on site with Tehachapi Grain Project's Sonora flour, along with three spritzes, five Negronis, and a wine list JD Plotnick of Lou Wine Shop built around Mediterranean-climate bottles.¹

Bornemann grew up on Ocean Park in Santa Monica.¹ He already cooks nearby as owner and head chef of Crudo e Nudo, and Bar Fortuna gives him a second station on Main Street, between Pier and Ashland Avenues.¹

What Makes Bar Fortuna in Santa Monica Worth Booking Now

Almost 40 seats leave little room for sprawl, which matters when the kitchen plans to make pasta on site and draw starters from the Santa Monica Farmers Market.¹ A small room makes changes in flour, market deliveries, or cocktail specs noticeable service by service.

He has also put the price question on the table before opening night. Brian Bornemann, chef and owner, said to Eater LA, "I don't want to replicate a Roman street food dish and charge $34 for it. We also chose a smaller space to keep our team focused on quality. Plus, with cocktails, we should be able to make the margins work."¹

Bornemann is building a focused pasta room. He is working with a tight seat count, a bar that can carry its share of the math, and a menu that depends on vendors he already knows. Bornemann's pasta program ties craft and operating decisions together.

Bornemann is opening Bar Fortuna near Crudo e Nudo in Santa Monica. Three minutes on foot connects the seafood counter he already owns to a new Italian room built for pasta, farmers market starters, shared mains, cocktails, and wine.¹ For Main Street, the opening adds another Bornemann-run place within the same daily radius of cooks, regulars, suppliers, and neighbors.

The Eight Housemade Pastas on the Opening Menu

Bornemann draws on his time as a fledgling chef in Italy for the pasta program, then anchors it in Sonora flour from Tehachapi Grain Project.¹ Bar Fortuna makes all eight pastas on site with that flour.¹ Bar Fortuna makes all eight pastas on site with Sonora flour from Tehachapi Grain Project.

The current pasta list includes spaghetti with Venus clams, pici with broncha cheese and fresh black pepper, and pesto fusilli.¹ Pici is thick enough for cheese and pepper to hold. Venus clams put Bornemann's seafood work into an Italian pasta. Pesto fusilli is shaped for sauce pickup.

The starters rely on close sourcing. Jyan Isaac Bread arrives with butter from Achadinha Cheese Company in Petaluma.¹ Burrata is made locally.¹ Zucchini carpaccio, fennel salad, and shrimp-stuffed squash blossoms draw on access to the Santa Monica Farmers Market, where the market itself becomes part of the prep schedule.¹ Zucchini carpaccio, fennel salad, and shrimp-stuffed squash blossoms show how the Santa Monica Farmers Market shapes the prep schedule.

The secondi section includes dishes beyond pasta. Bar Fortuna serves pasture-raised chicken puttanesca, grilled spiny lobster, and a serrano-laced squid-ink fried rice with soffrito and crab.¹ That last dish places rice, squid ink, serrano, soffrito, and crab in the same pan.

Noah Castellanos Builds the Negroni Station

Noah Castellanos stocks the bar and builds the cocktail program.¹ Castellanos worked at Playa Provisions and Piccalilli, and he owns Santa Monica coffee shop One Cedar.¹ Castellanos builds the cocktail program with a three-section menu, three spritzes, five Negronis, and variations.¹

The Elise spritz uses bergamot, Bordiga Rosso Vermouth, prosecco, and lemon peel.¹ The construction stays legible: bitter citrus, vermouth, bubbles, peel. For a pasta room serving from noon on Friday through Sunday, the spritz gives lunch a lower-alcohol path into the bar program.¹

Castellanos's Negroni list shows his range through ingredients. La Fortuna is shaken with Gray Whale Gin, California-based Atost Aperitif, vermouth, and saline.¹ The Spaghetti Western combines Hijos de Zoila Espadin, apricot, and Yuste Amontillado Sherry.¹ La Fortuna uses Gray Whale Gin, Atost Aperitif, vermouth, and saline.

Castellanos will also build Bar Fortuna's forthcoming daytime coffee program.¹ That detail pulls One Cedar into the project and gives the room a possible second rhythm beyond dinner service. A restaurant that serves full menu hours in the evening and weekend afternoons, then late-night bites with cocktails until midnight, needs a bar lead who understands both speed and return visits.¹

JD Plotnick, Joshua Montoya, and the Room Around the Pass

JD Plotnick of Lou Wine Shop curates the wine list, with French, Italian, and California bottles and a focus on Mediterranean-climate wines.¹ He also selected some wines from his personal collection.¹ Plotnick's wine list includes French, Italian, and California bottles, plus some from his personal collection.

The design carries more named labor. Bornemann and Joshua Montoya of Vin on Rose and Vin on Rose Fromagerie worked with Daniel Sina Jahanian of Meraki Haus Designs to brighten the former Vamos Vamos space.¹ The predecessor remains visible enough that regulars may recognize the bones, but Bar Fortuna marks itself with a yellow flag above a terracotta-colored facade, fresh flowers, a long bar, and bistro tables and chairs.¹ Bornemann, Joshua Montoya, and Daniel Sina Jahanian worked to brighten the former Vamos Vamos space.

A long bar changes how Noah Castellanos's drinks meet the room. Bistro tables control the space around pasta bowls and shared mains. Fresh flowers and a terracotta facade give the Main Street address a visible threshold between sidewalk and station. The design team has to support the service pattern Bornemann chose, especially when the kitchen, bar, and wine program all carry named collaborators.

How to Book Bar Fortuna for Opening Week in Santa Monica

Bar Fortuna serves its full menu Wednesday to Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday to Sunday from noon to 10 p.m.¹ The address is 2917 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA, 90405, between Pier and Ashland Avenues.¹ Reservations are available on Seven Rooms.¹

The practical tension is simple: almost 40 seats, an opening week, and a menu built around eight pastas prepared on site.¹ Diners who want to study the pasta program should look at the earlier full-menu hours before the room shifts into late-night bites. Castellanos's Negroni specs move through service at the bar.

The pasta list changes often, the Santa Monica Farmers Market starters hold their place, and the five-Negroni opening stance evolves once the room has regulars. Bar Fortuna opens as a small Main Street restaurant; its next test is how those named hands keep the method intact night after night.