Tesla Finds a Chef for Its Retro-Futuristic Diner in Los Angeles
The New York Times
Eric Greenspan, a developer of delivery-only restaurants, is reported to be the choice as the company faces a wave of political blowback.
The restaurant that Tesla is building in Los Angeles — an old-fashioned drive-in retooled for the electric-car era — now has a chef, according to a post on X by an account that shares Tesla news.
“The diner will feature a ‘1950s retro charm, dazzling neon lights, the unmistakable scent of freshly grilled burgers & hand-spun milkshakes,’” said the post, written by Sawyer Merritt on Wednesday night. It reported that the menu will be in the hands of the chef Eric Greenspan, a Los Angeles entrepreneur who has a virtual-restaurant company and a boutique brand of American cheese.
“It will be cool,” Elon Musk, the head of Tesla, commented under the post less than an hour later, appearing to confirm the news. (Neither Tesla nor Mr. Greenspan responded to requests for comment.)
The project sounded cool enough in 2018, when Mr. Musk began musing about it in a post on what was then Twitter, promising “an old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant.” More recently, he elaborated that outdoor screens would show old movie clips lasting about half an hour, or the time it would take to recharge an electric vehicle in the parking lot.
Since then, Mr. Musk has made himself a figure of intense controversy by buying Twitter and rebranding it as X, donating hundreds of millions of dollars to the campaigns of Donald J. Trump and other Republican candidates, and firing thousands of federal employees as the leader of DOGE. In the past two months, protesters around the world have picketed Tesla dealerships. Vandals have targeted Tesla vehicles and locations with guns, Molotov cocktails, cans of spray paint and other devices.
