The Full Story
Before opening Seline, Dave Beran had already cooked at the highest levels of American fine dining. His years at Grant Achatz's Alinea and Next in Chicago earned him a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2014 and a Food & Wine Best New Chef designation that was only confirmed, rather than established, by the James Beard committee. When he moved to Santa Monica to open Pasjoli, the dining world paid attention. When he announced Seline, it leaned in.
The restaurant opened at 3110 Main Street in early 2025 — a 38-seat room designed by Rugo/Raff Architects in dark blues and greys, with banquettes built to feel like couches and an open kitchen positioned at the dining room's center as both the room's focal point and its emotional core. The intention was explicit: not a formal dining room, but a kitchen you've entered through the backyard. The architecture dissolves the boundary between guest and cook, making the fifteen to eighteen courses feel less like a performance and more like an extended conversation between Beran, his team, and the specific landscape of Southern California.
What to Eat
Seline operates on a single tasting menu at $295 per person, with an optional wine pairing that is strongly recommended. The menu changes with the seasons and, within seasons, with whatever is best at any given moment — the Santa Monica Farmers Market, two miles from Main Street, functions as a primary collaborator. Beran's cooking is technically exacting without ever feeling clinical: dishes arrive with a sense of personal investment that is immediately legible, even if the reference or the memory from which they derive is not spelled out. The Southern California provenance is constant. Citrus, stone fruit, the sea in various forms, the produce of the inland valleys — these are the subject matter, approached with the methodology of a Chicago-trained mind that has lived long enough in California to understand what makes it different.
Expect courses that are simultaneously surprising and inevitable — the mark of a kitchen cooking from genuine conviction rather than the desire to impress. The pacing across two and a half hours is exceptionally well-managed; you leave full but not glutted, stimulated but not exhausted.
Best Occasion Fit: Solo Dining
Seline is among the finest solo dining experiences in California. The open kitchen makes eating alone feel deliberate and rewarding rather than merely acceptable — the counter configuration allows direct engagement with the cooks, and the intimate 38-seat scale means that the room never develops the anonymous energy of a larger restaurant. Beran's philosophy of hospitality is explicitly anti-formal: guests are encouraged to ask questions, engage with the cooking, and treat the meal as a collaborative experience rather than a transaction. For a solo diner who takes food seriously, Seline offers what very few restaurants can: a two-and-a-half-hour conversation with a kitchen at the peak of its powers.
Good to Know
Seline is at 3110 Main St, Suite 132, Santa Monica, CA 90405. Reservations are made exclusively through Tock and typically require four to six weeks of advance planning; the restaurant releases new availability on a rolling basis. The menu is priced at $295 per person, with wine pairing available at an additional cost. Dietary restrictions and allergies are accommodated with significant care — inform the team at booking. The restaurant seats 38 guests per service and runs a single seating per evening. Parking is available on Main Street and in nearby lots. Smart casual dress is appropriate; the atmosphere discourages formality while rewarding good taste.