Sana’a Cafe Bringing Yemeni Coffee To Westwood Village

An interesting new concept is taking over the former longtime home of BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse at 938 Broxton Ave. in Westwood Village. Apparently, according to the website, Yemen has a strong tradition of coffee, where it has been cultivated for over 500 years. The new resident, Sana’a Cafe, will honor this heritage by “sourcing the finest organic beans from Yemeni highlands”. Sana’a Cafe has 8 other locations across California and offers an extensive menu of Yemeni specialty drinks, espresso drinks, and teas.

BJ’s Bids Bye-Bye To Westwood Village

I’m hearing from shocked readers that popular local party spot BJ”s Restaurant & Brewhouse has served their last pizza after a 28-year run at 938 Broxton Ave. in Westwood Village.  A gracious notice in the window announces the sad news and directs fans to their other locations in Culver City, Glendale, and Burbank.  BJ’s closure leaves one sole business left on the west side of this once busy block, Falafel, Inc.

Century City Shopping Center’s New Restaurants

Last week, I told you about Santa Monica’s Vanilla Bake Shop going into the ground floor of Westfield’s Century City Shopping Center.  With a flurry of activity, at least four other restaurants are currently under construction and are slated to open sometime this year.  BJ’s Brewhouse(http://www.bjsbrewhouse.com/) has (extremely slowly) been moving into the old French 75 space at the back of the mall and is now hiring.  I hope they have better luck than every other incarnation to use this space.  On the ground floor near Rocksugar, look for a summer opening for the “build-your-own-burger” chain The Counter (http://www.thecounterburger.com/).  Finally, upstairs in the food court plywood signs are hiding construction on two new restaurants.  You can probably guess what’s on the menu at the graphically named The Juicy Bird going into the old Tacone space, and right around the corner work is underway on a branch of the chain Charley’s Grilled Subs (http://www.charleys.com/).  Both are slated to open July 1st.