How One Buzzy New Los Angeles Restaurant Solved The $25 Burger Problem

Forbes

24-05-2025

After taking over the space (and name) of a beloved corner store in Los Angeles, Beethoven Market aims to reinvent the neighborhood restaurant experience.
The last time I was in Beethoven Market, I bought a quart of milk, a pack of mints and a lottery ticket. The scratch-off was a bust but the real payoff finally came last night when I dined at the stunning new restaurant now occupying the space where Slim Jims and Little Debbies once passed for starters.
Two years ago, my neighbors near the beach in Los Angeles quietly felt the loss when the family-run convenience store—built in 1949—closed its doors for good. Then came the inevitable laundry list of 'uh-ohs' when restaurateur Jeremy Adler took over the Mar Vista property and turned the old Beethoven Market into a glossy, indoor-outdoor Cal-Italian hot spot: The noise! The parking! The safety of our kids!
Nothing on the menu at Beethoven Market is over $35 and most dishes land comfortably under $30.
But something interesting happened on the way to wood-fired pork collar and thyme: A true neighborhood void got filled. Not because Mar Vista desperately needed another open-beamed spot for tuna carpaccio and natural orange wine—it didn't. But Adler and his team figured out something most restaurants don't, which is how to belong. The reborn, unrecognizable, completely delicious Beethoven Market isn't trying to gouge or dazzle or food-snob its way to success. It just wants you to come back, and feel good and then come back again.
Let's talk prices. Lately, you need to say a prayer (or pop a gummy) before even glancing at a menu. 'The $25 burger problem' has spiraled into $28 Caesar salads, $11 espresso shots, and an $18 slice of olive oil cake you won't even like that much. Plus, automatic 20 percent gratuities, employee healthcare surcharges and whatever you're Venmo-ing your 14-year-old babysitter/TikTok consultant. It's a lot.
Beethoven Market has a three-week wait for reservations but the bar has 24 spots for walk-ins.
Beethoven Market doesn't have a dish over $35, and most land comfortably below $30. That pork collar is $29. Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe is $15. The Meyer lemon and clam pizza is $23, and that's the most expensive one. A generous and memorable side of roasted artichoke hearts runs $13, and cocktails cap out at $15. No, they're not giving food away but it's a refreshing difference from another newish place five minutes down Venice Boulevard charging $45 for gnocchi with black truffles and $55 for short ribs, and pretending it's doing you a favor (And I won't even mention the $60 half duck confit at Gjelina).
Adler is intentional about all this. He was roving around the restaurant last night and told me he designed Beethoven Market so neighbors can linger like it's an extension of their own living room. He instructed his staff never to upsell or sneer if a guest — he hates the word 'customer' — just wants a beer and a $12 plate of crispy rice balls. He sees Beethoven Market as a 'third place'—not home, not work— where the community comes together. It's why he installed VIB Parking for strollers (the b is for babies) near the entrance on Palms Boulevard. It explains the happy hour pricing that keeps drinks at $10 and appetizers in the Trader Joe's range.
One other move Adler made gives me hope. When the old market and liquor store went away, regulars worried about what would happen to the Beethoven Market staff, including Bernardo Mendoza, who was the face behind the counter seven days a week for 30 years.
Mendoza didn't have restaurant experience but Adler asked him to join the restaurant team, and he's now working as a back server and training to be a waiter. He recently told LA Weekly, 'This is where I belong.'
Maybe this will all change. It's already nearly impossible to score a reservation at Beethoven Market without a three-week wait. But there are options for walk-ins at the 24-seat bar, and Adler, who works full time for Resy, says he's thinking about making some adjustments—perhaps allowing priority booking for locals. But that's still to come.
The point is, sometimes a place can change without losing its sense of place. Restaurants don't always need to chase hype to fill seats. Even in 2025, menus don't have to bankrupt you to make you feel taken care of. And if you treat neighbors like people, they'll tend to stick around.
Beethoven Market is located at 12904 Palms Boulevard. The Los Angeles restaurant is open Sunday through Wednesday, from 5 pm to 9 pm, and Thursday through Saturday from 5 pm to 10 pm. Happy hour is daily from 4 pm to 5 pm.