Chain has a fixed address for the first time. The pop-up brand founded by actor and writer B.J. Novak opened a six-month residency at Topanga Social, the food hall inside Westfield Topanga in Canoga Park, on September 2, 2026.
Chain’s premise is simple: take the food of American chain restaurants, the dishes people grew up on, and hand them to serious cooks. The brand started in 2021 as a parking lot pop-up in West Hollywood and has since produced food festivals and catered events, including HBO’s 2024 Emmy party. Novak’s co-founders include Nicholas Kraft, Jack Davis, Byron Ashley, Abe Burns and chef Tim Hollingsworth. Studio Ramsay Global backs the company.
Four chefs anchor the Topanga run. Roy Choi, whose Kogi trucks changed how Los Angeles eats on the street, is joined by Mei Lin of 88 Club and Daybird. Calvin Eng of Bonnie’s in Brooklyn and Mason Hereford of Turkey and the Wolf in New Orleans round out the lineup. Each is developing their own interpretations of nostalgic chain-restaurant favorites.
A partnership with General Mills adds limited-edition snacks and desserts built on the company’s cereal brands.
Novak has framed the mall setting as part of the point. “The same way people have a deep down primal love for the chains of our childhoods, we feel that way about the malls,” he told Los Angeles magazine.
For the west San Fernando Valley, the residency puts a roster of nationally known chefs inside a suburban food hall for the rest of the year. It is scheduled to run through early 2027.
Sources
- Los Angeles magazine, “Exclusive: Chain to Open Residency at Westfield Topanga,” August 4, 2026
- Food Journal Magazine, “Chain Residency at Topanga Social Opens Sept 2”
- Westfield Topanga, Chain listing
