Katianna Hong, previously the chef at Napa Valley’s Restaurant at Meadowood and co-chef of the temporarily closed Los Angeles Arts District restaurant Yangban, has revamped the food menu at Verve Coffee Roasters. According to the source, Hong took over the culinary lineup earlier this year for the Santa Cruz-based coffee chain, which operates locations across Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and Tokyo, bringing fine-dining precision to everyday cafe fare.
The Evolution of Verve’s Cafe Menu
Last year, the menu at Verve featured standard Los Angeles cafe offerings like avocado toast, chicken Caesar ciabatta, roasted corn tartine, overnight oats, and chia seed pudding. Verve partner Mike Glick—whose Sprout LA restaurant group operates venues such as Vespertine, Broken Spanish Comedor, Camélia, and Yangban—tapped Hong to elevate the recipes. Hong wanted a menu that could perform all day while remaining assembly-ready for baristas rather than trained line cooks.
To achieve this, Hong utilized the sizeable commissary kitchen at Verve’s Arts District location to handle intensive prep work. The new items include salads with uniformly chopped vegetables, mango and coconut-infused chia seed pudding with macadamia nut granola, and in-house ground pork sausage with smoky aioli. Breads and pastries for the menu are sourced from Santa Monica’s Jyan Isaac Bakery.
Did You Know?
Chef Katianna Hong previously ran a three-Michelin-starred restaurant and led one of Los Angeles’s most celebrated modern Korean hot spots before taking over the menu at Verve Coffee Roasters.
Industry Response and Competitor Comparisons
The elevated menu could present a meaningful challenge to local competitors like Erewhon’s grab-and-go section, which features similar wraps, breakfast burritos, sandwiches, and toasts. Prominent Los Angeles chefs have taken notice of the shift. Chef Mei Lin praised items like the Arts District-only breakfast burrito filled with crispy tots and refried beans. Chef Ray Garcia of Broken Spanish Comedor noted that the dishes are “way better than they need to be for a coffee shop,” specifically highlighting the cheddar puffs, while Kato co-owner Ryan Bailey expressed favor for the Turkish eggs and sesame shrimp toast.
Expert Insight
Bringing fine-dining kitchen leadership into a casual coffee shop chain highlights a growing industry trend where operators blur the line between quick-service convenience and culinary craftsmanship. By relying on a central commissary kitchen for heavy prep, chains can scale complex flavors without requiring skilled line cooks at every retail outpost.
Logistical Challenges and Chain-Wide Consistency
Achieving uniformity across multiple outlets remains a work in progress. A visit to the Manhattan Beach location revealed that while items like the Asian chicken salad and tea leaf salad matched the quality of high-end Beverly Hills dining, other dishes fell short. The spiced chicken wrap tasted disjointed, and the hot smoked trout on an everything bagel lacked a fresh lemon wedge. Observers note that maintaining such ambition across a group of coffee shops unaccustomed to heavy food service is difficult, but the underlying culinary promise remains strong.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who designed the new menu at Verve Coffee Roasters?
Chef Katianna Hong, formerly of Napa Valley’s Restaurant at Meadowood and the Los Angeles restaurant Yangban, completely revamped the menu.
What inspired Katianna Hong to take the Verve position?
The role offered a favorable work-life balance compared to running a fine-dining restaurant, allowing her to spend time with her husband and daughter.
Where are Verve’s breads and pastries sourced from?
The baked goods are sourced from Jyan Isaac Bakery in Santa Monica.
How do you think upscale commissary-prep menus will change the expectations for everyday coffee shop food in major metropolitan areas?