Pasta|Bar is a Michelin one-star, counter-style Italian tasting-menu restaurant in an Encino strip mall at 16101 Ventura Blvd, on the eastern end of the Ventura Boulevard "Sushi Row" corridor. It is a concept of Scratch Restaurants, the Los Angeles group founded by husband-and-wife chefs Phillip Frankland Lee and pastry chef Margarita Kallas-Lee, and sits in the same Encino complex as their omakase concept (Sushi|Bar / Sushi by Scratch) and the now-closed Scratch Bar & Kitchen. It opened in June 2020 (in the former Woodley Proper cocktail-lounge space) during the early COVID-19 pandemic, and earned a Michelin one-star in 2021 (announced Sept 28, 2021, elevated from "New Discovery"), retaining the star through 2025. The "hidden sushi/omakase counter" hint is busted: the omakase counter is a separate adjacent concept (Sushi|Bar / Sushi by Scratch), not a counter inside Pasta|Bar. Lineage to "Sushi Row": Phillip's younger brother, chef Lennon Silvers Lee, earned his first Michelin star in 2021 cooking at the group's Sushi Bar (Montecito) before opening Silvers Omakase in Santa Barbara, which earned its own Michelin star in 2025 — making the brothers the first U.S. siblings to hold stars at two different independent restaurants simultaneously. The operating entity is reported as Scratch Restaurants LLC (California), but this could not be independently confirmed (registry behind CAPTCHA). No USPTO trademark for "Pasta Bar"/"Sushi by Scratch" tied to this group was located.
Opened late June 2020 (Time Out July 2 2020 'launched last week') in the former Woodley Proper gastropub space at 16101 Ventura Blvd, Encino CA 91436, a Ventura Blvd strip mall with Scratch|Bar and Sushi|Bar.
Phillip Frankland Lee began as a dishwasher in LA kitchens, trained under Quinn Hatfield and Stefan Richter, and worked at the Chicago restaurants Alinea and L2O before opening Scratch|Bar in Beverly Hills (2013) and moving it to his childhood neighborhood of Encino in 2015.
Pasta|Bar is a concept of Scratch Restaurants, the Los Angeles-based, Michelin-starred restaurant group owned by Phillip Frankland Lee and Margarita Kallas-Lee, which also operates the omakase arm Sushi by Scratch Restaurants.
Pasta|Bar's opening chef de cuisine was Kane Sorrells, who previously worked at the two-Michelin-star Blanca in Brooklyn; the concept is overseen by chef/owner Phillip Frankland Lee.
Chef Lennon Silvers Lee, Phillip Frankland Lee's younger brother, earned his first Michelin star in 2021 cooking with his brother at the group's Sushi Bar (Montecito) before opening Silvers Omakase in Santa Barbara, which earned its own Michelin star in 2025; the brothers are described as the first U.S. siblings to earn Michelin stars at two different independent restaurants at the same time.
Hidden omakase counter is the adjacent Sushi|Bar (Sushi by Scratch), a separate speakeasy run by the same couple; sibling Sushi|Bar Montecito earned a 2021 star under Lee's brother Lennon Silvers-Lee. Not inside Pasta|Bar.
One Michelin star awarded Sep 28 2021 (Hollywood Reporter), retained through the 2025 guide. Dishes include cavatelli in lobster sauce with peas, caprese with marigold tomatoes/mozzarella/fennel/avocado, sourdough with toro 'nduja, calamansi budino.
Pasta|Bar was awarded one Michelin star in 2021 (announced September 28, 2021), elevated from the 'New Discovery' category, and has retained the star through 2025.
Pasta|Bar serves a multi-course (roughly 11-plus course) tasting menu of California-ingredient pastas reinterpreting Italian staples — e.g., cavatelli in lobster sauce and a reimagined caprese — with desserts and house bread by pastry chef Margarita Kallas-Lee; Lee frames it as 'our interpretation of Italian,' not a traditional Italian restaurant.
Pasta|Bar is located at 16101 Ventura Blvd, Encino, CA 91436, in a second-story strip-mall complex on Ventura Boulevard's 'Sushi Row' corridor; the suite number is reported as Ste 255.
Pasta|Bar is open (as of June 2026) and takes reservations; the sibling Scratch Bar & Kitchen in the same Encino complex has closed. The group later opened a second Pasta Bar location in Austin, TX.
Pasta|Bar sits within the same Encino strip-mall complex (16101 Ventura Blvd) as the group's Sushi|Bar / Sushi by Scratch omakase counter and the former Scratch Bar & Kitchen; the omakase counter is a separate adjacent concept, not a hidden counter inside Pasta|Bar. Pasta|Bar replaced the former Woodley Proper cocktail lounge.
In its own words, Scratch Restaurants 'started when Chefs Phillip Frankland Lee and Margarita Kallas-Lee decided they wanted to put their personal spin on what a restaurant concept could be,' built on a 'dedication to the artisanal "from scratch" approach to hospitality.'
Pasta|Bar is an intimate counter-style room with an open kitchen and multiple nightly seatings; full capacity is described as 18 seats (about 10 at the counter), though pandemic-era service ran as few as eight guests per seating.