Gjelina — Travis Lett's Venice anchor (2008)

Travis Lett (born c. 1980) is an American chef and restaurateur who co-founded the culture-defining Cal-Mediterranean restaurant Gjelina in Venice, California, in 2008^[1][3]. Raised in Chatham, New Jersey, on a macrobiotic vegan diet influenced by his mother’s environmentalism and his father’s military service in Japan, Lett studied art history at the University of Colorado, Boulder, before moving to Los Angeles in 2001^[1][3]. He worked as a kitchen manager in a sushi joint and at age 24 became executive chef at 930, the restaurant at the W hotel in Westwood—an experience he called ‘a fucking nightmare’^[1][3].

In 2008, Lett partnered with Fran Camaj (who owned property on Abbot Kinney) to open Gjelina at 1429 Abbot Kinney Boulevard^[1][3]. The restaurant started small with wood-fired pizzas, one meat, one fish, and vegetable dishes sourced from the Santa Monica farmers’ market, quickly earning a reputation for its no-substitutions policy and ingredient-driven menu^[1][3]. Food critic Jonathan Gold declared: ‘Gjelina is everything that might persuade a snowbound New Yorker to change coasts’^[1][3]. Lett’s spinoffs include Gjusta bakery (2014), Gjelina Take Away (GTA), and Gjelina at MOCA^[1][3]. In 2017, he opened MTN, a modern ramen-ya, at 1305 Abbot Kinney^[4][5].

Lett sold his stake in the Gjelina Group in 2019, leaving the restaurants to former business partners Fran Camaj and Robert Schwan^[2][4]. His departure coincided with the birth of his son and extended due to the pandemic^[2]. After a five-year hiatus, Lett returned in summer 2024 with RVR, a California-Japanese izakaya in the former MTN space at 1305 Abbot Kinney^[2][4][5]. RVR features homemade noodles, bone broths, yakitori over binchotan charcoal, and a farmers-market focus seen through a Japanese lens^[2][5]. Lett has authored the cookbook Gjelina: Cooking From Venice, California and cites Alice Waters, Nancy Silverton, and Judith Rogers as influences^[1][3].