Joan's on Third

Joan's on Third is a family-owned specialty-food marketplace and restaurant on West Third Street in Los Angeles, California. The business began in 1995 when New York-born chef Joan McNamara established a catering operation in a small storefront. As demand increased, the company broadened its activities into a café and food market, eventually becoming a combined destination for prepared meals, grocery specialties, baked goods, desserts, cheese, chocolates, catering, and take-out food. The business occupies a commercially active stretch of Third Street between the Beverly Center area around La Cienega Boulevard and the Farmers Market and Grove complex near Fairfax Avenue. Its location, compact market format, and combination of counter service and table dining have made it a recognizable neighborhood institution for local residents, food enthusiasts, and visitors. The store has been compared in spirit with prominent New York specialty-food retailers because it combines a restaurant, prepared-food counter, and curated grocery selection rather than operating as a conventional supermarket or standalone café. Joan McNamara developed the business with her daughters, Carol McNamara Glass and Susie Hastings. Carol oversees catering and special events, while Susie has been responsible for operations. Susie is married to chef Chester Hastings, who joined the business in 1997 after working in San Francisco. The family structure remains central to Joan's identity and operating model. The market offers artisan and imported cheeses, salads, sandwiches, ready-to-eat dishes, snacks, baked goods, desserts, chocolates, dry groceries, refrigerated products, and selected pantry staples. Its specialty range has included items such as salt-cured anchovies, salted capers, imported pasta, fleur de sel, burrata, English Cotswold, and truffle-flavored cheese. The owners have traveled to source distinctive products, giving the shop a curated rather than mass-market assortment. A major expansion in 1998 added an adjacent storefront and helped realize McNamara's goal of creating a gourmet food marketplace and café. A further expansion in 2007 tripled the market's floor space and supported a broader restaurant and retail operation. The restaurant subsequently offered breakfast, lunch, and dinner alongside take-out service. Joan's on Third has received generally favorable attention from food publications and media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, CNN, Time, and Zagat. Its reputation has been built on the quality and variety of its prepared foods and specialty groceries, though reviews have also mentioned crowded conditions, long waits, difficult parking, and occasional disorder during peak periods. The venue is additionally known as a gathering place for Hollywood figures and Los Angeles food enthusiasts. The business has been associated in published coverage with diners including Robert Duvall, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Moon Zappa. A small but memorable part of its service reputation is the reported practice of handing out cupcakes to customers when lines become unusually long. Joan's on Third is best understood as a localized hospitality and specialty-retail brand rather than a national chain. Its differentiation comes from the overlap of chef-led food preparation, curated gourmet retail, catering, and a socially prominent Los Angeles setting.

Joan's on Third was established in 1995 by Joan McNamara, a chef from New York who had previously operated a cooking school and restaurant there. She began the Los Angeles business as a catering company working from a storefront on West Third Street. The original concept was focused on catering, but the operation gained enough demand to develop beyond an event-food business. McNamara's daughters became important members of the family enterprise. Carol McNamara Glass, who studied at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, took responsibility for catering and special events. Susie Hastings, a Georgetown University business graduate, assumed responsibility for operations. Their involvement helped turn the business into a multi-part hospitality and retail operation. Chef Chester Hastings joined Joan's in 1997 after working in San Francisco and later married Susie. In 1998, Joan's expanded into an adjacent storefront. This enlargement allowed McNamara to pursue a long-standing ambition: a gourmet food marketplace combined with a café. The business began selling specialty groceries and prepared foods while also serving customers in the restaurant. Its format brought together a cheese counter, dessert service, prepared-food counter, restaurant seating, and shelves of dry and refrigerated products. The store's location on Third Street placed it in a busy Los Angeles food and shopping corridor between the Beverly Center and the Farmers Market and Grove area. Over time, Joan's became known as a neighborhood destination with a distinctly urban, food-focused character. Its assortment emphasized carefully selected products rather than the breadth of a conventional supermarket. Reported examples include imported pasta, specialty salts, salted anchovies and capers, chocolates, and a range of local and imported cheeses. The owners' travel to source products reinforced the market's curated identity. A significant expansion in 2007 tripled the market's floor space. The enlarged premises supported a wider retail assortment and a more developed restaurant operation. Joan's subsequently offered breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as take-out meals and catering. The resulting business model combined several revenue activities under one local brand: on-site dining, prepared food, specialty grocery retail, baked goods and desserts, and private or special-event catering. The business received favorable exposure in national and regional food coverage, including references in The New York Times, CNN, Time, the Los Angeles Times, and Zagat. Coverage emphasized the unusual combination of a gourmet market and restaurant and the quality of the shop's specialty ingredients. At the same time, published reviews identified practical limitations associated with its popularity: narrow or crowded conditions, difficulty finding a table during busy periods, counter-service delays, and parking challenges. These observations helped define Joan's as a high-demand but sometimes frenetic Los Angeles food destination. Joan's also developed a strong social reputation. It was reported to attract Hollywood celebrities and local food enthusiasts, with public references linking the restaurant to diners such as Robert Duvall, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Moon Zappa. Moon Zappa identified Joan's as a favorite Los Angeles eatery, while Jake Gyllenhaal was reported to have dined there. The venue's identity therefore rests not only on its products but also on its role as a recognizable meeting place in the city's restaurant culture. The family-operated structure, chef-led origins, specialty-market format, and integration of catering and restaurant service have remained the defining elements of Joan's on Third. Unlike a national chain, the brand is closely tied to its West Third Street location and to the McNamara family's hands-on management. Its historical development illustrates a progression from catering company to neighborhood café, gourmet market, and full-service restaurant.

• 2007

  Major market expansion

  [1]Joan's on Thirden.wikipedia.org

  A further expansion triples the market's floor space and broadens the scope of its retail, restaurant, and prepared-food operations.

• 1998

  Expansion into an adjacent storefront

  [1]Joan's on Thirden.wikipedia.org

  Joan's expands into the neighboring storefront, enabling the addition of a gourmet food marketplace and café.

• 1997

  Chester Hastings joins the business

  [1]Joan's on Thirden.wikipedia.org

  San Francisco chef Chester Hastings joins Joan's on Third and later becomes part of the family operating the business through his marriage to Susie McNamara.

• 1995

  Joan's begins as a catering company

  [1]Joan's on Thirden.wikipedia.org

  Chef Joan McNamara opens the business from a storefront on West Third Street in Los Angeles, initially focusing on catering.

A chef-founded, family-operated Los Angeles destination combining gourmet specialty retail, casual restaurant dining, prepared foods, and catering.

• Specialty food retail · 1998

  Specialty grocery marketplace

  The market sells a curated selection of pantry, refrigerated, and gourmet food products. Reported examples include imported De Cecco pasta, fleur de sel, salt-cured anchovies, salted capers, chocolates, and selected local and imported cheeses. The assortment is designed around distinctive ingredients and specialty foods rather than conventional supermarket scale.

• Prepared food · 1998

  Prepared foods

  Joan's offers ready-to-eat foods through its counter service, including sandwiches, salads, snacks, and other prepared dishes. These products connect the retail market with the restaurant by allowing customers to purchase food for immediate consumption or take-out.

• Restaurant service · 1998

  Restaurant and café menu

  The restaurant provides a full menu spanning breakfast, lunch, and dinner, alongside table service and take-out meals. It operates as part of the broader market rather than as a separate standalone restaurant concept.

• Bakery and desserts · 1998

  Bakery and dessert selection

  Baked goods, desserts, cupcakes, and chocolates form a visible part of the Joan's offering. The dessert counter and bakery products contribute to the store's reputation as a destination for casual snacks and specialty treats.

• Catering · 1995

  Catering and special events

  Catering is the original business line and remains a core part of the family operation. Carol McNamara Glass oversees the catering and special-events arm, extending Joan's prepared-food capabilities beyond the storefront.

• 2007

  Triple the market's floor spaceStrategy

  Background

  The business had developed beyond its original small storefront and required additional capacity for its market and restaurant activities.

  Action taken

  Joan's undertook a major expansion that tripled the market's floor space.

  Aftermath

  The larger premises enabled a broader specialty-food assortment and a more extensive restaurant and take-out operation.

  Source

• 1998

  Move from catering into a market and caféStrategy

  Background

  Growing demand for the original catering operation created an opportunity to serve customers directly from the West Third Street location.

  Action taken

  Joan's expanded into an adjacent storefront and added a gourmet marketplace, café, prepared-food counter, and restaurant service.

  Aftermath

  The expansion established the hybrid retail-and-restaurant format that became central to the brand.

  Source

1. 1Joan's on Thirden.wikipedia.org