Remote Surveillance Trailer in Beverly Hills, CA

In April 2026, after less than a year of operation, Top Chef winner and Los Angeles chef Mei Lin stepped away from her Beverly Hills restaurant, 88 Club, alongside an exit from Szechuan fried chicken joint Daybird. That month, Lin told Eater that she stepped away from restaurants to focus on doing her “own thing” and “reset.” After a brief closure, 88 Club will now reopen as Tiger Tiger on August 29, under the leadership of one of the original opening partners, Francis Miranda. In contrast to the more glamorous, higher-end initial plan for the space, the restaurant’s new iteration will feature a more expansive menu spanning a range of Chinese regional influences at a more affordable price point.

Miranda says the separation from Lin was mutual. “I think that we were just in different directions,” he says. “The former version of it was very chef-driven, and this version of it is going to be a lot more guest-driven. We just had different philosophies about what the restaurant needed to become.” Miranda adds that 88 Club’s menu was small and labor-intensive, and while guest feedback was positive, the price point did not encourage repeat visits. “Rather than defending something that wasn’t connecting, we just decided to change it,” he says.

Lobster. Stan Lee

Tiger Tiger will be led by Taiwan-born chef Michael Chih, who has more than 51 years of experience in restaurant cooking. He started his career at 16 in his family’s restaurant Deer Spring, before moving to the U.S. in 1984. Over the decades, he worked at restaurants in California, New York, and Maryland; most recently, he cooked at Alhambra legend Jiang Nan Spring. For Miranda, Chih is the right chef to guide the restaurant into its new era. “Every time I’ve thrown anything at the wall with him like, ‘Hey, do you think you can make a dish like this?’ He’ll literally, in a millisecond, say, ‘I have the recipe. Try this. Tell me what you think,’” Miranda says.

Tiger Tiger will serve dishes such as glistening, crispy black pepper filet mignon crowned with cilantro; crispy crab rangoons; glazed General Tso’s chicken; and a Szechuan whole fish. Chih’s sweet-and-sour pork is a favorite of Miranda’s: “It’s a staple of Chinese cooking,” he says. “If a chef can’t get that right, then we have bigger problems to worry about.” Also find other Chinese classics such as salt-and-pepper shrimp, fried rice, and mapo tofu bathed in a red-hued chile sauce. Miranda says the new menu reminds him of the banquet-style Chinese restaurants he grew up eating in with his parents in the San Gabriel Valley.

Dish price points for Tiger Tiger will also differ from its predecessor. Final menu pricing is still being worked on, but Miranda estimates that a meal could come in at around $120 for two, with individual dishes priced in the $20s or $30s, and a house-special lobster closer to $40 or $50. “I think Tiger Tiger will be the place that people will come eat once a week instead of trying it once and saying, shit, it was 350 bucks for me and one person to eat,” Miranda says.

The interior of Tiger Tiger, designed in collaboration with Alexis Readinger of Preen, will remain largely the same with some updates to the art and seating. Expect the collection to be more Chinoiserie-focused, with a smattering of tiger motifs throughout.

The flip into Tiger Tiger comes amid a pervasive feeling of hospitality industry–wide anxiety as closures pile up and restaurants continue to struggle with rising costs of doing business. “There’s so much uncertainty in restaurants right now, and we’re seeing some really big, amazing, talented people pour their heart and soul into their restaurant only for it to close in a year or two years,” Miranda says. “I wanted to do my best to not fall into that as well.” With Tiger Tiger, he hopes to make a bid to turn the restaurant into a neighborhood staple that will encourage repeat visits.

As dentistry moves toward regeneration, artificial intelligence, and biologic preservation, the Beverly Hills dentist behind the concept is asking whether progress may increasingly be defined by what clinicians can preserve, not only by what they can repair or replace.

Beverly Hills, CA, Oct. 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Neo Dental, a Beverly Hills dental practice led by Dr. Sol Shahri, is introducing an approach to clinical decision-making called Neo-Essentialism, built around a deceptively simple question: Can we achieve the same, or an even better, long-term outcome while preserving more of what nature gave the patient?

Beverly Hills dentist Dr. Sol Shahri reviews a digital intraoral scan with a patient at Neo Dental in Beverly Hills, where Neo-Essentialism informs a treatment-planning approach focused on preserving natural biology and long-term outcomes.

Imagine visiting your dentist twenty years from now.

Instead of drilling a cavity, damaged enamel is regenerated. Instead of removing the nerve from a tooth, diseased pulp heals itself. Artificial intelligence identifies disease years before symptoms appear.

If this is where dentistry is heading, Dr. Shahri believes the philosophy guiding treatment decisions needs to evolve with it.

Neo-Essentialism is designed to help clinicians consider not only whether a treatment works, but also what biological cost comes with achieving that result.

"Every dental procedure comes with a biological cost," says Dr. Shahri. "Removing enamel, dentin, pulp, bone, or healthy tissue may sometimes be necessary. But once natural biology is removed, we cannot truly recreate it exactly as nature made it. Before making an irreversible decision, we should ask whether that biological cost is justified."

The Law of Biological Cost

At the center of Neo-Essentialism is a principle Dr. Shahri calls The Law of Biological Cost:

Every irreversible procedure carries a biological cost. That cost should only be paid when its long-term benefits justify what nature is giving up.

Rather than beginning with, "What procedure should we perform?" Neo-Essentialism encourages clinicians to first ask:

Neo-Essentialism is not meant to replace existing schools of thought. Minimally invasive dentistry, biomimetic dentistry, adhesive dentistry, preventive care, and regenerative approaches have all advanced the effort to preserve teeth and improve outcomes.

Neo-Essentialism places those possibilities within a broader decision-making framework by asking a question before the procedure is selected: Is there another path that can achieve the goal while preserving more of what the patient already has?

What That Means Today

Today, the biology at stake may include enamel, dentin, pulp, bone, soft tissue, and other natural structures that become increasingly difficult to replace once lost.

In cosmetic dentistry, that may mean considering no-prep or minimally prepared veneers when appropriate rather than automatically removing substantial healthy enamel.

In restorative dentistry, it may mean considering a bonded onlay rather than a full-coverage crown when the clinical situation allows it.

For certain early lesions, technologies such as resin infiltration, remineralization therapies, and silver diamine fluoride (SDF) may provide options before conventional restorative treatment becomes necessary.

The goal is not simply to choose the smallest procedure. It is to choose the treatment that achieves the desired outcome while respecting the value of the biology being altered.

"This isn't about doing less dentistry," Dr. Shahri says. "It's about doing the right dentistry. Sometimes the right treatment is a crown, a root canal, an implant, or a major reconstruction. Neo-Essentialism simply asks us to make sure the biological cost is worth paying before we pay it."

A Philosophy Designed for Dentistry's Future

That question may become even more important as dentistry moves beyond repairing damaged structures and begins learning how to regenerate them.

Tomorrow's clinicians may make decisions involving stem-cell regeneration, pulp regeneration, enamel regeneration, tissue engineering, biologic implants, AI-guided preventive care, and technologies that have not yet been invented.

"Technology will change," Dr. Shahri says. "What we’re capable of preserving will change. What we’re capable of regenerating will change. The philosophy has to be flexible enough to evolve with the science."

That leads to one of the central paradoxes behind the concept:

The greatest breakthrough in dentistry may not be a new procedure. It may be learning when not to perform one.

This concept has resonated with patients, as Neo Dental in Beverly Hills, led by Dr. Sol Shahri, has become a destination for those searching for the best dentist in Beverly Hills. Many of those patients are looking for an approach centered on preservation, thoughtful treatment planning, natural cosmetics, and long-term outcomes.

Neo-Essentialism has become the guiding clinical philosophy at Neo Dental in Beverly Hills, where the practice recently surpassed 200 five-star patient reviews.

For Dr. Shahri, the milestone is an encouraging sign that patients can respond positively to his approach.

"When patients understand that we're thinking about what we want them to still have twenty or thirty years from now, it changes the conversation," Dr. Shahri says.

Neo Dental hopes Neo-Essentialism contributes to a broader discussion about how dentistry defines progress.

"For generations, dentistry has measured progress by what we can repair and replace," says Dr. Shahri. "I believe the next generation of dentistry will also measure progress by what we can preserve."

Neo Dental in Beverly Hills, where Neo-Essentialism guides the practice's approach to treatment planning and preservation of natural biology.

About Neo Dental Beverly Hills

Neo Dental is a comprehensive dental practice in Beverly Hills, California, providing preventive, cosmetic, restorative, implant, clear aligner, and emergency dental care. Led by Dr. Sol Shahri, the practice is guided by Neo-Essentialism, a clinical decision-making philosophy centered on preserving patients' natural biology while pursuing exceptional long-term health, function, and aesthetics through thoughtful treatment planning and modern technology.

Press Inquiries

Dr. Sol Shahri press@neodentalbh.com https://neodentalbh.com