Nancy Silverton’s Spacca Tutto to Anchor Caruso’s Reopened Palisades Village in 2026

Rick Caruso has teamed with of Los Angeles’ most beloved restaurateurs, Nancy Silverton, to further energize the effort to rebuild the Pacific Palisades community after the devastating wildfires in January, and to anchor his Palisades Village shopping and dining complex when it reopens next year.

The billionaire developer and the four-time James Beard Award-winning chef, in partnership with filmmaker Joseph “McG” Nichol’s Newport Beach-based River Jetty Restaurant Group, unveiled plans Tuesday for a 3,500-square-foot Italian American steakhouse concept named Spacca Tutto. AvroKO is designing the restaurant that will open in August 2026.

“For many, many years, I’ve wanted to work with Nancy,” Caruso told Commercial Observer in an empty section of the 125,000-square-foot development in the heart of Pacific Palisades. “We’ve talked about a lot of different ideas, and, as a company, we’re believers in working with the best and the brightest in every industry. And, obviously, Nancy fits that bill. But sometimes it takes a while.

“And McG and I have talked about doing business together, and he’s obviously exceptional in what he does in the movie business, but he also runs great restaurants that my family and I enjoy.”

Caruso said his team was thinking about what could anchor the Palisades Village development when it reopens next year. 

“It has to be something really special, and it has to represent the best of hospitality, the best of the restaurant industry, the best of experience,” he said. “And, so, I cold called Nancy and said, ‘I got a big idea. Do you want to do this together?’ And she said, ‘Let’s do it.’

“Part of the pitch is, obviously, it’s going to be an incredible restaurant in terms of food quality and it’s going to do great, but there’s a higher mission to be part of a rebirth of a community that I believe is going to have a positive impact on the whole city.”

Silverton explained that past plans with Caruso didn’t work out because of the close proximity between her restaurants on Melrose Avenue and Highland Avenue (including the Michelin-starred Osteria Mozza) and Caruso’s The Grove shopping center. But the Pacific Palisades are miles from her other restaurants, and, as a native Angeleno, she was eager to join the effort in rebuilding after the wildfires. In Italian, “spacca tutto” is used colloquially to say, “go for it” or “give it your all,” and the trio said it reflects resilience, creativity and courage in the name of the Pacific Palisades “roaring back.”

“This is what this community needs,” she said. “It needs hope. The community needs to be rebuilt. And what better way to build it or rebuild it than with food? In my business, I’m always sort of a first responder in the sense of building or lending my name or my food. That’s sort of what I feel like I’m here for, is to be that first responder to help rebuild the city that I’m from and that I love.”

McG said the restaurant design focuses on warmth, comfort, accessibility and approachability. 

“A community runs on its stomach,” he said. “So, if you can give them Nancy Silverton, I think that’s a wonderful gift. If you can come here and have some laughs with your friends, eat some great food, and just smile, I think that’s a huge step in the right direction. And who doesn’t love the rebirth? And the three of us are completely committed to rebuilding Palisades and strengthening California as a whole.”

Spacca Tutto will draw from Silverton’s chi SPACCA roots, but it will also distinctly embrace more of a classic steakhouse heritage and everyday dining.

“I wanted to have that freedom, but it’s going to be much more than what we have at chi SPACCA,” Silverton said. “I want it to really embrace the idea of the American Italian steakhouse, which I think will make it even one step more accessible, one step more familiar, one step more reason to eat here every single night of the week.

“Whenever someone says, ‘Where do you want to eat?’ Especially when I’m in another city, my first thought is always that I just want to go to a steakhouse because I know that that implies something simple, and that’s really the way that I prefer eating,” she added. “So, there’s a lot of familiarity in the menu, along with a large and heavy selection of vegetables and salads, because that’s sort of what I like to eat. It’s not going to be just a steakhouse, but it’s going to be for meat lovers, with lots of good fish and steaks … and a couple pastas might make their way onto the menu.”

Caruso’s eponymous firm is one of the largest privately held real estate development and hospitality companies in the world. He was also the runner-up in the most recent mayoral election, and it is widely believed he will either run again for Mayor of L.A. or run for Governor of California.

In the nine months since the wildfires — starting in the hours as the wildfires advanced through the Pacific Palisades — Caruso has frequently criticized what he says is a lack of leadership at City Hall, especially when it comes to the lack of preparation for the fires, the convoluted rebuild operation, and general mismanagement. He also launched a nonprofit coalition Steadfast earlier this year to support the wildfires rebuilding effort and to address the bureaucratic bottlenecks at City Hall. 

“The Steadfast team is working hard,” Caruso said Tuesday. “We have a full-time team led by a gentleman named Nick Geller, and Nick is a resident of the Palisades, but they’re literally working around the clock. So, with the AI permitting that we’ve delivered to the city, which has now been adopted, people can get plans checked in a matter of weeks versus months.”

On Wednesday, Steadfast is also providing additional grants to small businesses, such pharmacies and bakeries, and another local restaurant, to keep them open or get them reopened, including some in Altadena, where the Eaton Fire similarly destroyed thousands of homes simultaneous to the Palisades Fire.

“Preservation of jobs is very important,” Caruso said. “And I would say in these communities, probably 90 percent of the businesses are small businesses. … so they’re really dependent on these grants to keep going.”

Steadfast is also working to rebuild parks and clean up downtown areas. But Caruso said the announcement with Nancy Silverton and McG is vital. 

“The message it gives people is just hope,” he said. “And, for so many people, 7,000 homes were destroyed here. And, so, 7,000 families, if we give them a little bit of hope and a little bit of sunshine, that this community is coming back, to rebuild, be part of that rebirth. That’s everything in the world to all of us.”

Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.