*South Los Angeles-based Post & Beam, a popular full-service restaurant, is ending its long standing run at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, with closing its doors at the end of February.
Eater Los Angeles reports the eatery, which opened in 2012, closed on February 27. With the closure comes the demolishment of its structure to make way for new apartments, retail, restaurants, and a grocery store near the corner of Martin Luther King and Crenshaw Boulevards.
Weighing in on the end of Post & Beam, chef and co-owner John Cleveland touched on how bittersweet the closing is while shutting down talk of the restaurant being “put out of business.”
“Post & Beam wasn’t put out of business,” Cleveland said. “The construction was long planned, and we were always kept in the loop. We’ll still have a presence in the neighborhood as it evolves.”
A standout in the historic Baldwin Hills neighborhood, is known for a host of tasty menu items, including vegan crab cakes made from hearts of palm, pizzas crisped in a wood-fired pizza oven, and roasted organic chicken. The eatery’s side dishes were a nod to soul food classics, with greens, black-eyed peas, macaroni and cheese, and some of the city’s best brunch biscuits, Eater noted.
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Although Post & Beam is coming to an end, it will be active until its last day, providing dinner and weekend brunch service as well as ticketed buffet, social dating night, and a special menu for Valentine’s Day. Cleveland and his wife Broni will also program community events like their longtime Black Pot Supper Club, a tasting menu dinner focused on the history of African-American foodways. The event’s final appearance at Post & Beam will be February 17.
The closing of Post & Beam marks the end of an era for Cleveland, who took ownership of the restaurant with his wife Roni in 2019. Prior to running Post & Beam, the couple received a firm foundation in taking over the establishment with being mentored by its original owner, Brad Johnson , and chef Govind Armstrong, the head of operations at Santa Monica’s The Lobster.
Post & Beam’s history goes back to 2012, when Johnson and Armstrong opened its doors in the former longtime restaurant Golden Bird to provide a sit-down, full-service restaurant. In it’s opening year, Post & Beam proved successful with a positive review from former Los Angeles Times critic S. Irene Virbila, a spot on the late Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants. In 2022, the restaurant was nominated as a James Beard Awards semi-finalist for Outstanding Restaurant.
Despite businesses closing and wary diners, Post & Beam remained open. According to Cleveland, having a cooperative landlord helped tremendously.
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Looking at what lies ahead, the Clevelands will carry on after Post & Beam closes, continuing the restaurant’s catering service while offering delivery during construction.
Overall, the couple will remain in Baldwin Hills, with plans for John to partner with Armstrong again on his next venture.
“Owning Post & Beam has been a dream come true for me,” Cleveland shared. “I came specifically to work under Armstrong and Johnson. Roni is from here. I wanted this neighborhood to be the foundation of my customer base and root myself in Baldwin Hills, and we’re grateful for their support.”
Post & Beam’s closing follows the demise in recent years of most of he Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza’s independent structures next to the actual mall. For more on Post & Beam and what will happen with the surrounding area of its location, click here.
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