College commercials often portray the "average" student in unrealistic-to-most scenarios, like intrepidly performing lab-coated experiments, and paying attention in class. Giving you a chance to kind of make good on the first one, The Lab.

The Lab's a Galen Center-adjacent beery gastropub decked out like a science classroom, with industrial lighting, black-slate-topped common tables, a white-tile bar, textbook-filled bookshelves, and plush professorial leather chairs, all run by USC Hospitality, who recently started opening off-campus restaurants in a bold effort to get alumni and foodies to visit the 'hood. Grub's created by an ex-Shutters chef, and includes a slew of pizzetta flatbreads (pepperoni & sausage; prosciutto, fig jam, & parmesan), high-end sandwiches (grilled steak on foccacia w/ greens, fries, and sauteed mushrooms), and entrees like grilled lime & garlic shrimp w/ French beans, who don't shave their pits. The beer list is 40-deep, with foamy drafts like Firestone Double Barrel Ale and Fat Tire, bottles like Chimay Triple White and Old Rasputin Stout, and oversized bottles like Escondido's Arrogant Bastard Ale -- if yours was 22oz, you'd be arrogant too.

The Lab's also got three specialty brews from Karl Strauss, all served in custom-made 16oz beakers: toffee-tinged Red Trolley Ale, and exclusive-to-the-resto caramelish Lab Amber Lager and malty Trojan Blonde, a beer that'll remind you of another uncommon college scenario -- safe sex.

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Do experiments on your stomach with the subject-to-change pre-opening menu