Same Same But Different in Silverlake
Same Same......but Different. That is the name of the Thai restaurant tucked in a strip mall on Sunset Blvd in Silverlake. Locals know the place as Rambutan Thai and while the kitchen and food remain the same, the front of the house is different. Now the name makes sense, right?
Adam Weisblatt of Last Word Hospitality and his partners Angus McShane and Holly Zack are what is different about Same Same. They were on a mission to find a small, established business to buy and take over and create a Basque wine bar. They found Rambutan, a 13-year-old family business in Silverlake. However as Weisblatt shared with me, as they were looking to buy the place they noticed how customers were drawn to owners Katy Noochlaor and Annie Daniel. So instead of buying the place, they decided to collaborate.
20 June, 2016
The restaurant is set atop the stairs on Via Rodeo's cobblestone street on Rodeo Drive in the heart of Beverly Hills. There is an intimate indoor dining area but the majority of the seating is on the outdoor patio that overlooks the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel. This is the ideal place to sit as it is a great spot to enjoy lunch and people watch. Or head there for dinner and enjoy a meal under the stars.
Open for twenty-five years, 208 Rodeo offers a menu focused on California cuisine with pan-Asian and French influences. 
Located on La Brea Boulevard, just south of Melrose in the space formerly known as Cube, Pizza Romana is owned by Alex Palermo. For those who loved the menu at Cube, rest assured that while Palermo changed the concept, those dishes are still on the menu. In addition, they put a large wood fired pizza oven in the center of the restaurant.
Alex Palermo grew up in Wisconsin, the son of a Roman father and American mother, and spent his vacations in Italy. He then attended college in Southern California. Having spent some time working at the La Jolla Pasta Company during summers and having visited Italy, he understood that homemade pasta is something that comes from "home". During his senior year in college, he took an entrepreneurial course. As Contadini was the only "fresh pasta" on the market at the time, he used his summer experience as an idea. He got a pasta machine from another company in San Diego and set it up at a friend's dad's restaurant in Santa Monica. He would work from 11pm to 4am making restaurant quality pasta for retail. Divine Pasta Company was born. His first client was Gelson's Market in 1992 and it grew from there where it can be found at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Costco today.