The world’s most influential restaurant is bringing its experimental cooking to Silver Lake for a four-month residency shaped by California’s landscapes, ingredients and communities. Olivia Palamountain reports

Noma is coming to Los Angeles for the first time, with a 16-week residency planned for spring 2026. From March 11 to June 26, the Copenhagen restaurant will cook in Silver Lake, using southern California as the starting point for a new menu and creative chapter.

Led by founder René Redzepi, the project marks Noma’s most ambitious international residency to date and follows years of attempts to establish a presence in the US.

“For almost a decade, we’ve been trying to come to America, and it’s been close a few times,” Redzepi says. “Then, about two years ago, with the help of a few good friends, we found a place we fell in love with. It had to be Los Angeles.”

The team describes LA as a city defined by cultural collision, where global food traditions sit side by side with a dramatic natural backdrop. “It’s a place where you can have tacos for breakfast and a Thai tasting menu in an alleyway for dinner,” Redzepi says. “When things collide, something surprising can happen.”

During the residency, the Noma team will research ingredients, producers and traditions across the region, from the Pacific coast and Central Valley to nearby deserts and farmland. Those discoveries will shape a menu that Redzepi describes as “quintessentially Noma but also completely new”, developed through exploration within a 300-mile radius of the city.

Noma LA will operate as a ticketed dining experience, with evening services from Tuesday to Friday and midday services on Wednesdays and Fridays. Bookings will be released on January 26 at 9am PST via Noma’s newsletter, priced at US$1,500 per person including menu, beverage pairing, hospitality and tax.
Alongside the residency, Noma will open a Noma Projects shop in Silver Lake, selling a curated range of pantry products developed in its test kitchen and fermentation lab. This will be the brand’s first dedicated retail space outside Copenhagen. A programme of collaborations, events and community initiatives will also run throughout the spring, supported by Noma’s nonprofit sister organisation, MAD.

One per cent of revenue from public bookings will be donated to support school food and training programmes in and around LA, delivered in partnership with local organisations including Brigaid and the Culinary Careers Program. A limited number of complimentary seats will also be offered to hospitality professionals aged 25 and under working in the city.