Sam Nazarian, owner of Los Angeles hot spots Hyde and Area, says his latest venue won’t have a velvet rope or even a sign. An unmarked door on the back wall of the Bazaar—a tapas restaurant in his new hotel, the SLS at Beverly Hills—will lead to a hidden second boîte set to open later this year and dubbed SAAM. “It is a playful version of my name based on its location in the Bazaar,” says Nazarian, who credits the hotel’s designer, Philippe Starck, and SAAM’s chef, José Andrés, for inventing the moniker for the spot, which his camp is calling L.A.’s answer to Graydon Carter’s Waverly Inn. Reservations will be taken via—what else?—an unlisted number.
