Trends may come and go, but the entertainment business has anointed just a few particular power spots as acceptable watering holes over the years.

“There’s five places to go in this town,” an A-list agent recently exclaimed over lunch — naming San Vicente Bungalows, Tower Bar, the Chateau, Polo Lounge and Toscana as acceptable options. (Once iconic or of-the-moment names also, of course, include the Ivy, the Grill, Craig’s and La Scala.)

While Culver City is home to Amazon MGM, Sony, Apple, HBO and TikTok — it hasn’t exactly been known as a power dining destination. But these days, the area is quickly becoming a hub for AI startups looking to break into Hollywood — and the more down-to-earth Laurel Grill has emerged as the de facto power lunch spot for the neighborhood’s studio and AI execs.

Some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names — including billionaire former Facebook president Sean Parker — are gobbling up office space in Culver City as part of tech’s ongoing push to colonize the entertainment industry.

Over the past year, more than a half-dozen AI startups have moved into the 1.2-square-mile city — taking advantage of a commercial real estate market that, as council member and former mayor Dan O’Brien, tells Page Six Hollywood, “bottomed out last year.”

“Culver City is becoming a hotbed of artists who are finding work, connecting with each other and pitching themselves to studios,” says George Strompolos, who set-up the startup Promise AI in a building which is in the shadow of the Sony water tower.

He launched his company alongside former YouTube exec Jamie Byrne and filmmaker Dave Clark with backing from Peter Chernin’s North Road and Andreessen Horowitz. (The exec previously ran the digital media and entertainment company Fullscreen — also from offices in Culver Studios — but sold that company to AT&T’s Otter Media.)

Strompolos tells us the Laurel Grill has become one of his go-to working lunch spots. “Every time I’m having a meeting with an Amazon exec it’s at the Laurel Grill.”

The restaurant sits atop the Culver Steps, overlooking the Culver Studios and the Roaring ‘20s-era Culver Hotel. It was opened two years ago by Dean McKillen and Phil Howard, the owners of West Hollywood haunts Laurel Hardware and Ysabel.

A studio exec in the area points out, “There’s not a lot in downtown Culver in terms of places to have business lunches, so [Laurel Grill] filled that gap — plus it’s a good vibe and they have a nice patio. A+ cheesy bread.” A bartender at the spot told us it’s frequently packed with Amazon, Apple and Sony execs.

Local pol O’Brien likens the place to Culver City’s version of The Ivy, adding, “There’s all these deals being made between agents.”

(The Ivy is the Robertson Blvd. lunch spot frequented over the years by studio execs and agents plus Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Nicole Kidman, Kevin Costner, Kate Moss, Madonna and various Kardashians.) 

And while the Laurel Grill hasn’t hit anywhere near that level of stardom quite yet, breakout actor Connor Storrie worked as a waiter at the eatery right up until he was cast to star in the HBO Max smash, “Heated Rivalry.”