A Tale of Two Restaurants, one in the Palisades and one in Altadena
by Arielle Martinez Cohen
Vittorio’s was a Pacific Palisades institution. They were the kind of place where the community gathered, where people could run into friends and friends of friends.
After losing my home in the Palisades Fire on January 7th, 2025, I found myself craving garlic knots, specifically the ones from Vittorio’s, of all places. I grew up eating them after a long day of school or dance practice. We’d stop by to pick up our order, finishing into the soft, buttery bites of goodness before we even got home. Fifteen years later, I longed for them, craving a substitute for what I really wanted… my home and community back. Grief can be funny like that.
Last year’s fires hit places like Vittorio’s particularly hard, heroes at first but then slammed with the realities of a changed economic landscape. I decided to talk to Vittorio’s and to Betsy in Altadena, both neighborhood restaurants with a pre-fire passionate following. Both are working to survive and thrive after great loss. In the process, they are helping community members do the same.
Vittorio's
Opened in 1984 by original owner Giovanni Mazzola, it was named Vittorio’s, meaning winner or conqueror in Italian, after Mazzola’s cell mate gave him the nickname during his brief time in prison. When Mazzola wanted to move back to Italy in 1987, he suggested Mercedes Pellegrini, who was selling cakes to the restaurant, take ownership of the restaurant. Now, Pellegrini and her two daughters, Vanessa Pellegrini Henriques and Sabrina Pellegrini Kalaydjian, are co-owners.
Over the last 38 years, “we’ve had funerals, baby showers, divorce parties, celebrations of life, birthday parties. I mean, it’s just been kind of a gamut,” owner Vanessa Pelegrini Henriques remembers. Vittorio’s was a pillar of the community, a reflection of just how tight knit the LA suburb was.
For a few months after the fires, Henriques remembered not being able to get out of bed, let alone think about opening another restaurant. When a food truck business messaged her on Instagram, at first she wasn’t interested. But it stuck with her, and when her now landlord showed her the open lot nestled on Channel Road in Santa Monica Canyon, she went for it. “I sat there for probably the better part of the day and watched how the canyon moved and who came there and who was talking just to get a vibe,” Henriques recalled. “I left there and I called my sister and said, ‘I think I found our new home.’”
Now Vittorio’s does a brisk business out of a vibrant red food truck on Entrada Dr., featuring a quaint three-table patio and a picket fence inviting you in. Their menu is smaller than it once was, but still includes their famous knots, along with flavorful pasta dishes, pizzas, and hot Italian subs.
After reopening, they continued to host their annual toy drive in December 2025. Former patrons and Palisades residents have come back to support them as well. Henriques said, “I feel that we’ve been really lucky. We’ve done a lot of good for the community and it’s coming back to us.”
Betsy, Altadena
Betsy, formerly Bernee, is the only building still standing on Mariposa Street in Altadena. Despite this, they are packed every night, and were named one of the best new restaurants in America 2025 by Esquire and Eater.
Former Altadena residents and others from all corners of LA flock to the warm, wood-filled space to enjoy a dinner filled with the freshest farmer’s market produce, sustainable grilled meats and seafood, and an expertly-curated wine list. Their menu touts dishes like “cheese we are liking,” heritage pork chop with winter greens, and Betsy’s cobbler.
After losing his Altadena home to the fires, Betsy owner and chef Tyler Wells decided to leave Los Angeles. “Personally it was pretty dark,” Wells said. He moved out of Los Angeles for a while, living in Mexico, then Ojai, then in a tent at The Ecology Center, an organic regenerative farm in San Juan Capistrano. There, he cooked as part of their Community Table series. After a few months, though, Altadena still felt more like home. He reopened Betsy, named after Wells’ late mother, in August of 2025, with largely the same staff as before the fire.
Now, Betsy is helping bring life back to Altadena. “I get to help a community heal with our little restaurant and try to support people and bring some vibrancy back to it. It’s a big honor, it’s a big responsibility,” Wells said. Every night, someone will stop him, pulling him by the sleeve to sincerely thank him for opening again. He told me of a few regulars, Tim and Annie, former Altadena residents, he now considers family. “If [they] come in, we take care of [them]. This is going to be [their] place now.”
Chatting with Wells was surreal, sitting in the shadow of the grand San Gabriel Mountains surrounded by empty dirt lots. After losing everything, how can we move forward? For Wells, like so many others, finding meaning continues to be the answer. “I think an interesting part of that journey of having your life burned down is once you’ve stripped it down to nothing, it’s not clouded anymore. [I’m] exactly where I’m supposed to be, doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing,” Wells said. “My hope [for Altadena] is realized. It’s going to be different. But that’s okay. …what we’re here to do is just take care of people, take care of our community.”
Restaurants have always brought people together. They help people form collective memories. They are the pillars of the neighborhoods that pepper this sprawling city, each with their own personality. Los Angeles is lucky to have restaurants like Vittorio’s and Betsy, which continue to show us that this is not the end. The future will be different, but beautiful.
