Community Highlights: Meet Dominique Theval of Dominique’s Kitchen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dominique Theval.

Hi Dominique, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Thirteen years ago, my wife and I started looking for opportunities to open our own bistro. I’ve worked as an Executive Chef for Morel’s French steak house and bistro as well as Taix (the oldest French restaurant in Los Angeles) since we moved to Los Angeles for my wife’s job at Neurogena over 25 years ago. Our goal was to be a neighborhood bistro serving home style Euro French cuisine in a cozy atmosphere, just like if you were at our home.
We now have regular customers that have become like friends and family. We also strive to have balance in our lives by the hours and days we chose to open and also by taking vacations since we both run and manage the bistro together.
I run all aspects of the kitchen from sourcing to making the food while my wife runs the front of house and all other administrative duties.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We survived the Covid shutdown by changing our strategy to do set menu takeouts from Friday to Sunday and closed the other days. Orders had to be placed ahead and pick up times assigned to ensure no overcrowding and the minimally staffed kitchen can cope. We had a max number of orders per day, once the limit is reached, we stopped taking orders.
2025 is the most challenging year by far due to huge increase in cost of doing business – food, insurance, utilities. We are continuously reviewing and adapting to make sure we can stay afloat and still offer a great customer experience.

We’ve been impressed with Dominique’s Kitchen, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a neighborhood French bistro serving homestyle Euro French cuisine located in an old home that was converted into a restaurant a long time ago.
We opened 13 years ago and is a husband and wife run business.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Consistency – Chef owned and I am always cooking in the kitchen since day 1, this ensures consistency in the food that we serve and is appreciated by our customers. The restaurant is closed when we are on vacation.
Customer service – We strive to have friendly front of house staff who makes everyone feel welcome and my wife is the host that greets the customers.
Atmosphere/ambience – it’s cozy like being in our home, nothing pretentious

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.dominiqueskitchen.com
• Instagram: @Dominiqueskitchenrb
• Facebook: Dominiqueskitchenllc