Chez Jay

A Time Capsule with Peanut Shells

Walk past Tongva Park toward the Santa Monica Pier and you’ll spot Chez Jay tucked into a low-slung 1947 building that looks like it teleported from a different era. Step inside and your eyes need a moment to adjust. The main room is deliberately dark—candlelight flickers in red glass votives, providing most of the illumination. A wooden bar runs along the left wall, with maybe eight stools occupied by regulars who know the bartender’s name. The right side holds six red vinyl booths, cramped and slightly worn. Down the center, a handful of tables complete the 50-person capacity.

Your feet crunch on peanut shells. The restaurant has been giving away free peanuts since 1959, when founder Jay Fiondella brought a circus elephant through the front door on opening night and needed something to feed it. The tradition stuck. Now the shells pile up throughout the night, and no one minds.

Portholes dot the walls—actual salvaged brass fixtures from a gambling ship seized in Santa Monica Bay before World War II. Black-and-white photos cover every surface: Dean Martin, Lee Marvin (who supposedly rode his motorcycle through the front door to order a drink), and dozens of other faces from Hollywood’s golden age. A captain’s wheel sits behind the bar. The whole place feels like a slightly seedy yacht club where the dress code dissolved sometime around 1972.

The Stories Behind the Tables

Table 10 holds special status. A small plaque marks it as the spot where Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg met with a New York Times reporter in 1971. Warren Beatty also claimed this table for his various romantic interests. Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards had their first date here. The list goes on—and regulars know every story.

The strict no-photography policy made Chez Jay a refuge for celebrities who wanted to eat without cameras. That policy still stands, creating an atmosphere where famous and not-famous people can share elbow room at the bar without anyone pulling out their phone.

One peanut from this restaurant traveled further than any other. Astronaut Alan Shepard smuggled a Chez Jay peanut into space and back in 1961. The family still keeps it in a safe, labeled as the first “Astro-nut.”

Old-School Steakhouse Food

The menu reads like a 1960s steakhouse time capsule. Wedge salad with Roquefort and bacon. Shrimp cocktail. Fresh steamed clams. Then the main event: New York steaks, filet mignon, lobster tail, and the house specialty butter steak with fine herbs. Entrees run $30-$55, with most steaks landing around $46-$52. You get a choice of baked potato, rice pilaf, or La Jolla potatoes (a local au gratin variation).

Sand dabs sauté almondine draws devoted fans. So does the scampi rice pilaf. Portions are generous—many couples share a single entree and find it plenty. The kitchen doesn’t chase trends or reinvent classics. The food tastes the same today as it did when the restaurant opened, and that’s by design.

Service staff tend to have long tenures. Ask your server about the restaurant’s history and you might get stories about serving Jack Nicholson or the night someone brought in a birthday cake for the building itself.

Late-Night Scene

The bar stays open until 2 AM on Friday and Saturday nights, keeping alive the tradition of Santa Monica’s old nightlife when Ocean Avenue had more grit. The Backyard at Chez Jay, a separate outdoor restaurant that opened in 2019 behind the main building, offers a modern contrast with fire pits and a different menu. But the original front room stays loyal to its roots—dark, intimate, slightly divey, and packed with people who want that exact experience.