Here in L.A., where restaurant real estate space is coveted and finite, we’ve all too often come to view someplace new as the old someplace else. Which is why I was surprised when I asked Alba co-owner Will Makris (of New York's Prince Street Hospitality) what used to occupy the site of his stunning new Italian gem opening this Thursday, Feb. 6. on Melrose Avenue.

“Nothing,” he replied at the restaurant’s friends and family preview on Friday, Jan. 31. “It’s brand-new. It was a parking lot.” Fortunately for us Angelenos, 8451 Melrose Ave. is a parking lot no more and now houses the sibling to Cucina Alba in New York — a celebrity-studded Italian hot spot on West 18^th Street and 10^th Avenue that built a cult following for giving patrons exactly what they crave.