# The Lucas Museum's $1 Billion Burger Problem > George Lucas spent 17 years on a museum, and over a year on the bun for its Wagyu burger. - Title: The Lucas Museum's $1 Billion Burger Problem · Vanity Fair - Summary: George Lucas spent 17 years on a museum, and over a year on the bun for its Wagyu burger. Skywalker Grill is the Lucas Museum's thesis on a plate: obsessive… - Keywords: restaurants, los angeles, george lucas, museums, design, Lucas, Museum's, Billion, Burger, Problem, Vanity Fair - Source: Vanity Fair — https://vanityfair.com/story/skywalker-grill-lucas-museum-of-narrative-art - Author: Elise Taylor - Published: 2026-09-11T14:00:00+00:00 - Read time: 2 min - Topics: restaurants, los angeles, george lucas, museums, design ## The books are overwhelming Diego Cardoso, flown in from London's Rhubarb Hospitality, is running food and drink at Skywalker Grill inside the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Reservations opened and buried him. > We've opened the books and it's been…overwhelming ## Seventeen years, three cities George Lucas and Mellody Hobson spent $1 billion and nearly two decades getting this built. Chicago said no, San Francisco said no, and LA's Exposition Park finally said yes in 2017. ## Rockwell, Schulz, and Star Wars The Ma Yansong building opens this month with Norman Rockwell paintings, Peanuts comics, and pieces pulled from the Star Wars archive. ## No ninety degree angles Rockwell Group wrapped the room in swirling cherrywood, white onyx Corian, and Art Deco fabric on the chairs. Nothing in it meets at a right angle, echoing the building's curves. ## Cinematography as a room David Rockwell designed with framing, light, scale, and atmosphere, then set switch glass and Corian against visible handwork. It's the same tension that runs through Lucas's films. > We wanted to create some of that same frisson in the restaurant ## One frame of Los Angeles Turn the corner and a giant window swallows the city and Exposition Park. Lucas wanted it to read like a single frame of art. Lunch gets blue sky, sunset gets dusty pink. > He really wanted this window much like the story in one frame of the art itself ## Booked into December Hype for the museum spilled straight onto Resy. Most of the fall is gone, and the next table for two is December 2. Critics don't weigh in until the official opening around September 22. > It's exploding at the moment ## A year on the bun The menu riffs on Skywalker Ranch: chicken tenders with caviar ranch, lobster corn dogs, braised short ribs. The Wagyu comes from the ranch's own cattle, and Cardoso spent over a year picking the bread. > It's going to be a staple, so we want it to be good ## Key takeaway Skywalker Grill is the Lucas Museum's thesis on a plate: obsessive craft dressed up as an easy American meal.