Darin sits down with Lien Ta—restaurateur, organizer, and one of the guiding lights of L.A.’s hospitality community. From Here’s Looking At You to Regarding Her, Lien shares her five essential rules for building community with intention, generosity, and just a little bit of magic. It’s a heartfelt, honest conversation about showing up, paying attention, and creating space for connection—both inside a restaurant and far beyond its walls. If you've ever wondered how to turn a dining room into a neighborhood, this one’s for you.
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[00:00:00] Darin Hello and welcome to five rules for the good life. I'm your host. Darin Bresnitz. Today, we sit down with one of my favorite people in the Los Angeles food scene, Lynn Ta. You may know her from some of her incredible restaurants, All Day Baby. Here's looking at you and as one of the magnetic forces behind regarding her. Today, she shares her five rules about how to build a community. We chat about what it means to. Show up for others. How to build something bigger than yourself. The art- of bringing people together and why she loves magic. So let's get into the rules. Lynn, so good to see you. Always a bright spot in my day when we get to sit down and have a conversation.
[00:00:45] Lien Ta Oh, likewise, Darin. Thank you for having me.
[00:00:47] Darin When I think of the L.A. Food community, few people sit at the top in my mind like you do. What is it like to be a part of the LA food community and what does it mean to you?
[00:00:57] Lien Ta I actually have to say that I did not expect to be at the top of a community. It certainly wasn't my intention when I set forth to opening a first restaurant in 2016. But how it feels is it's a privilege, it's an honor. If I am truly there, then I take it quite seriously. It's important to me that I actually act out this role or these values of mine, and it feels good.
[00:01:19] Darin It should feel good. And the last few months, how the last few years have really shown how important community is in the restaurant space. Now, I think when you open a restaurant, community is a big part of what you're building as well with here's looking at you and all day baby, how have you considered building community while you build a new restaurant?
[00:01:37] Lien Ta I think the goal of opening a restaurant is so lofty as it is. Once you get your doors open, you start to realize, one, you're building a community within the four walls of your restaurant with your staff and the kinds of folks that you're hiring, the energy that you're hoping to cultivate, and the service that we're trying to provide to our guests. And I think over time, I come to realize oh, we're a meeting ground for our guests And hopefully our guests are bringing maybe a second person or another pair of folks to have dinner and then that in itself is building community and then suddenly they're speaking to the strangers next to you sitting at the bar and all of that. And then we build that trust that they can return to our restaurant.
[00:02:18] Darin Yeah, I think it's really important to not just create a space, but to be a part of it as well, which can sometimes feel like the same thing, but a really two separate things. So without further ado, I'd like to get into your five rules of building community, what's the first rule.
[00:02:30] Lien Ta My first rule is give first. It's so much about being generous with what you decided that you are bringing about, like your service, this restaurant, this kind of food, and really providing this space. It really is about being generally. You just have to set that foundation and build the hospitality on your home turf before you even start thinking about a broader community or growth or anything like that.
[00:02:56] Darin Listen, opening up a restaurant is giving so much of yourself in the first place. And part of that comes in understanding what you need to get, which ties directly into rule two.
[00:03:05] Lien Ta Rule two, it's about paying attention. The other day I was at a children's talent show.
[00:03:10] Darin Mmm.
[00:03:11] Lien Ta My friend, who is eight, was going on stage and singing a song with her two colleagues or peers, and I could see how nervous they were. But thinking how brave it was. So I was telling the story to a friend and they were saying, you know, Lynn, you're so good at paying attention. And so I think when you start to see who are the people that are gravitating towards, in my case, my restaurant, I do, I wanna pay attention and think about the strengths and the interests and the desires of each individual employee or each individual guest so that I can find ways to better relate to them and provide. It really starts from being a good listener and really noticing the different gifts people around you are offering and what you can also give back so that you can form those meaningful connections.
[00:03:56] Darin That's so beautiful. Understanding what certain people need is one of the great aspects of being a restaurant owner, especially front of house, like you are, and recognizing that everybody needs something individual is a very special skill.
[00:04:08] Lien Ta You know, as a parent, it's so much about caring, and the caroel almost has to be infinite. And with community, it really is such a core part of what it even means and to really care, you gotta pay attention.
[00:04:22] Darin That infinite well of caring and giving to others ties into rule number three.
[00:04:28] Lien Ta Yes, so rule number three is about recognizing others and showing up for others. I just think it's so important to make people feel seen. Make people feel heard. And a lot of that is just actually verbalizing and showing how much that person means to you or cares for you or how gifted they are in that role and really providing that kind of validation. You may not even know these people very well.
[00:04:54] Darin Uh-huh.
[00:04:55] Lien Ta Like, I have these guests. They're fairly new regulars of mine. They've been coming in as a couple. And the truth is, is I truly didn't know them that well. Elizabeth and Jay are their names. They came to our Halloween party. They dressed up. Long and short of it is, I found out one of them is a magician. And they're gonna have a magic show at the end of next week, and it's to benefit families that have been affected by the wildfires.
[00:05:16] Darin Amazing.
[00:05:17] Lien Ta I'm obsessed with magic. It's one of those few cases where you really can let go and not have a reason or understanding how something happens. So I'm gonna be there. Yeah. I had to buy tickets and like you know and all of this stuff and really just showing up for them even if we don't yet have a fully established foundation of a friendship but they are in my community. It feels so good to push that event out and hopefully get other magic enthusiasts to join along.
[00:05:43] Darin I've always been a big fan of showing up for others and it's extremely important at the start of a relationship. If you can and when you can't show up for somebody has a very long lasting effect.
[00:05:53] Lien Ta Yes. Were so passionate about the food industry and the restaurant industry, and there were so many years or decades where I was not a restaurant owner, but I just had to be a restaurant lover and really show that and go and visit these restaurants, whether now be my very good but before, it's just about showing them that I support. This incredible feat that they've created and I'm there to show up and be hungry.
[00:06:17] Darin It's how we met. Yes, it is. It's we became friends.
[00:06:20] Lien Ta Exactly.
[00:06:20] Darin Being a restaurant lover and now being a restaurateur, part of being in a community and building community is providing a service, which is your rule number four.
[00:06:29] Lien Ta Yes, providing service and and providing what I even would call access. I thought of this word because I was thinking about my friend Patrick Q.
[00:06:38] Darin Mm-hmm.
[00:06:38] Lien Ta In 2018, he reached out to me like a cold request, I guess, I mean, we weren't friends, but I knew him by reputation as the longtime restaurant critic of Los Angeles magazine. And he basically said, I'd like to write a book about what it takes to become a restaurateur. That was actually the title of the book. And I was wondering if I could spend time with you a year exactly. After it was done, I asked him why is it that he asked me to be the subject of this book. And he said, honestly, it was about access.
[00:07:06] Darin Hmm.
[00:07:07] Lien Ta You seem to be someone that is transparent and approachable and all of these things. You know, I really took that to heart when Patrick said that to me. And it is always my goal to be approachable. Like if someone 10, 15 years younger than me, Asian woman, for example, trying to start her own food business feels like she can reach out to me via direct message. I would like to hear from you. I can't necessarily help everyone.
[00:07:31] Darin Sure.
[00:07:32] Lien Ta Thinking about the resources that you are able to share and being helpful in all of those things. If you can even provide that service, if you're doing too much for strangers, are you still being available to your community? So it is this very delicate balance of being as authentically available as you can be to both sides.
[00:07:49] Darin Being available, providing access is a huge part of what it means as an individual to be a part of a community. But I think rule number five is one of the toughest things to do when you're building a community, but something that you are absolutely an expert on and why we're talking to you today. What is your rule number Bringing people together.
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