The Baked Potato

The Baked Potato opened in 1970 on Cahuenga Boulevard in Studio City, and it has been named the best jazz club in Los Angeles so many times that the designation has become almost a formality. Founded by pianist and keyboardist Don Randi, who spent decades as a session musician playing with the Beach Boys and Nancy Sinatra, the club has been a primary stage for jazz fusion and contemporary jazz in Southern California for more than half a century. Los Angeles Magazine called it a mainstay for session players since 1975, and that reputation has only deepened. The room is a single, intimate space with no pretense of refinement. It is small, slightly grungy, acoustically precise, and packed on most nights with an audience that ranges from jazz obsessives in their sixties to Gen Z students having their minds rearranged by live improvisation. Two shows run nightly at 9:30 PM and 11:30 PM. Every seat is close to the stage. Larry Carlton recorded a live album here. Nick Menza of Megadeth collapsed and died on this stage while performing with his jazz side project OHM. It is a room with weight. The menu, true to the name, consists almost entirely of baked potatoes in 24 configurations, from Philly cheesesteak to teriyaki chicken to buffalo blue chicken, all made to order. There is a two-drink minimum. Admission averages around twenty dollars per person. It is all ages. And it is one of the genuinely great live jazz experiences in North America.