Rustic Canyon restaurateur Josh Loeb opens first film in New York
Santa Monica restaurateur Josh Loeb has stepped behind the camera for his directorial debut, the independent romance In Spite of Ourselves.
The film opened in limited release, meaning only a handful of cinemas, at the Quad Cinema in Manhattan, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A run at the Landmark Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles follows on Oct. 16. It is a slow platform rollout of the kind often used for small films without a wide studio release.
The film stars Brett Dier and Conor Leslie, as Deadline reported in December 2025. Loeb wrote the script in addition to directing it, that report added.
The story is a romance built around a meet-cute, a first meeting played for sparks, over a cinnamon bun. The love interest, a hospitality veteran, is based on Loeb's former wife, pastry chef Zoe Nathan, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Loeb is best known to diners as the operator of Rustic Canyon, the pioneering farm-to-table restaurant in Santa Monica specialising in seasonal California cooking. He founded the restaurant, Deadline reported, and his company site lists him as co-owner and chairman of the board of the wider Rustic Canyon Family.
He named Rustic Canyon after the Westside Los Angeles neighbourhood where he grew up, between Brentwood and Pacific Palisades. Before restaurants, he studied English and film at UC Berkeley.
For audiences who know Loeb from the dining room, the connection is direct. A restaurateur who built a career around produce and service has made a love story set in that same world, and opened it the hard way, one theatre at a time.
