It looks like a new chocolate shop is landing in Beverly Hills soon. Window paper is heralding the arrival of Chokolatta to the diminutive space at 255 1/2 S Beverly Dr. Apparently the focus here is small batch, handmade chocolates, desserts, and drinks with an emphasis on “Pre-Hispanic recipes and the ancient Mayan culture” that you can read more about here.
It was back in November that I told you about the impending arrival of Tara’s Himalayan Cuisine to the tricky location that was previously occupied by Kayndaves, at 262 26th St. in Santa Monica, across from the Brentwood Country Mart. To those of you who have been following this story for updates, I have good news: Tara’s Himalayan Cuisine has officially thrown open its doors for business. This is their third location. Look for an extensive menu featuring Nepali, Tibetan, and Indian food. No liquor license yet, but they’ll let you bring in wine with no corkage. We wish them every success…
Back in December of last year, I told you about the demise of sandwich shop Cabbage Patch at 214 S Beverly Dr. in Beverly Hills. And now it looks like a new tenant is moving in. Window displays announce the arrival of Cinderella Cakes. Cinderella Cakes has been an Orange County staple for over 65 years, and are famous for producing decorated cakes that are “edible works of art”, but they also produce an array of other sweet treats and host cake decorating parties as well. It looks like they’re shooting for a Fall opening.
I’ve been watching the space that used to house the little diner Tulip Cafe at 1314 Colorado Ave. in a desolate industrial part of Santa Monica. It’s been idle for a while, then a notice appeared maybe a year or two ago that an experimental new eatery was moving in. Then that notice disappeared. Now a plucky new restaurant is going to give the quirky location a try. A banner over the door announces that Pure Food will soon inhabit the diminutive space. You can read the menu here, but it looks like falafels are the star of the show, as well as other Mediterranean specialties.
Trouble for Everytable? With a visionary concept of bringing fresh, nutritious, made-from-scratch meals to a fast food world, Everytable ambitiously sought to transform the food scene along the lines of what McDonald’s did a half century ago. But sadly, their location in the Westfield Century City Shopping Center is now vacant, and so is their spot in Santa Monica’s mercurial The Gallery. Other locations appear to be open.
A prominant window display lets us know that HRB The Hand Roll Bar Experience is landing in the freestanding shop located on the second floor, just outside of the Food Court of the Westfield Century City Shopping Center. The still-developing website doesn’t list a menu yet, but I think we can take a wild stab at what will be on offer. It looks like there’s a location coming to Downtown LA as well, on W 6th St.
A prominent window display at 8360 Melrose in West Hollywood proclaims the impending triumphant arrival of Sweet Jesus, a Toronto-based ice cream chain. While cheekily-named, Sweet Jesus’ website makes it clear that they don’t want to “offer commentary on anyone’s religion”, but rather deliver “pimped out” soft serve ice cream cones with lofty heights and creative add-ons. They also do cakes, shakes, and frappés as well. Sweet Jesus has locations across Canada, and one other US location on the East Coast. I’m predicting that Sweet Jesus and Paul Smith‘s nearby notorious pink wall will be a social media match made in heaven…
On a tip from a reader (Thanks Shawn!), I went to check out what was going on at Mediterranean eatery Allspice Kitchen & Grill at 7501 Sunset in West Hollywood. Sure enough, a large for lease sign on the front and gutted interior confirm that they have indeed closed. Their Yelp page promises a temporary closure, but I think it’s safe to say there looks to be little hope of that…
Back in August of last year, I told you about a new treat shop landing in the old Blue Plate space at 1415 Montana Ave. You wouldn’t know it from the lack of signs, but Santa Monica’s branch of Erin McKenna’s Bakery opened over the weekend, joining locations in New York, Orlando, and on Larchmont. Look for a menu of donuts, muffins, cakes, and other sweets, as well as breakfast and lunch items that are vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and kosher.
It looks like El Segundo is getting a new frozen treat shop. Downtown’s hippest art gallery El Cuervo recently closed at 417 Main St. A new sign in the window lets us know that expanding chain Gelato-Go will soon be delivering artisanal Italian gelato to the good people of El Segundo.
For a long while now a teaser in the window of the space just to the right of Brentwood’s perpetually busy Katsuya let us know that a new “experience” was heading our way. Now we know what it is. Plywood just went up around the space announcing that a new branch of SBE’s S Bar at Katsuya is moving in. While I can’t tell you exactly what to expect, I think we can get an idea by looking at Miami’s S Bar Brickell.
It was only back in May when I told you about the demise of the short-lived branch of Mediterranean eatery Grilliant from their space at 10861 Lindbrook Dr. in Westwood. Wasting no time, a new ABC application has appeared on the front. The business name is listed as Toranj, a word that, depending on what part of the world you are in, can mean different things. But since the applicant is listed as Chicken Chick Corp., I think its a safe guess that poultry will be on the menu. We’ll have to wait and see what develops…
Something is coming to the corner location at 3850 Main St. #A in Downtown Culver City. An ABC application lists the business name as Wild Child, which also happens to be the name of a kid’s gym nearby. But right next to the application, a small sign promises us that Piccalilli is soon to inhabit the space. It’s not uncommon for an ABC application to list a prototype name (or no name) and then later change the name to something else, so I’m betting on Piccalilli. I can’t find out much information on the new “general eating place”, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see…
Downtown Santa Monica’s premier Food Hall The Gallery is hosting Pride events this weekend to correspond to the first ever SaMo PRIDE Festival. All this week we are promised “unicorn food specials”. On Friday (June 14), from 7pm-10pm on The Deck, there will be Drag Bingo hosted by Pandora Boxx with prizes and giveaways. And on Saturday, during PRIDE on The Promenade, The Gallery will have food and drink booths set up. Read more about the events here.
LA fine dining legend Melisse closed it doors at 1104 Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica back in March with a vague promise of reopening soon. At the time, there were a lot of unanswered questions (including whether or not the name of the establishment would continue to be Melisse), and Chef Josiah Citrin wasn’t spilling the beans. But things appear to be moving forward. A note on their website promises a Fall 2019 opening and a “whole new menu and concept”. And late last week a new ABC application appeared, hidden in the front entrance, that continues to name the business as “Melisse“. I’ll keep watching…
I recently heard from a reader (Thanks Steve!) that Brentwood neighborhood fixture Wahoo’s Fish Taco was going to close at 11911 Wilshire Blvd. after a nearly 20 year run. For lease signs point to the sad fact, but a notice on the door confirms that they will indeed close at Summer’s end. All may not be lost though, according to the notice, they are looking for a new space somewhere nearby…
It was only back in April when I first told you about the demise of Vintage Market in the flashy new Palisades Village in Pacific Palisades. Signs quickly went up telling us that natural foods grocer-to-the-stars Erewhon was intent on moving in. Wasting no time whatsoever, Erewhon officially threw open its doors yesterday, June 5th.
With locations in Illinois and Indiana, a new “bubble tea lounge” is heading to Downtown Culver City. Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt ditched its conspicuous corner location at 3851 Main St. last year. Now a small notice is announcing that beverage and snack expert Latea is intent on moving in. Look for a wide menu of organic milk tea, tea drinks, specialty drinks, and snacks (seasoned fries).
The increasing number of authentic Japanese restaurants or impending projects, as in straight out of Japan, is impressive right now. Add one more to the list: Window notices are up on the space next to Yazawa, at 9966A S. Santa Monica Blvd. in Beverly Hills, announcing a new restaurant, Ima. The window promises shabu-shabu and sukiyaki, but their website lets us know that Tokyo-based Imafuku makes highest-grade Japanese Wagyu the star of the show. And they’ll even let you know from what part of Japan the beef is coming, just in case you’re concerned about Fukushima.
Every once in while, one of my posts attracts a great deal of interest for reasons I can’t completely understand. That appears to be the case when I first told you about the closure of the Carl’s Jr. on the corner of Harvard and Santa Monica Blvd. in Santa Monica. Ever since then, a great many of you have been checking for updates, and even though they completed their remodel a bit ago, a lot of you are still asking me questions. So here ya go… Carl’s Jr. is now open and dishing burgers and fried zucchini to the fast-food starved people of Santa Monica.
Toddrickallen 