Hey, I get it… A great many of you are riveted by the transformation of the Westfield Century City Shopping Center and are constantly checking for updates. I’m eagerly watching as well. This is what the food court looks like right now…
It takes a brave eatery to give it a go in the sputtering food scene that is Santa Monica Place. Apparently Westside Pavilion’s Z Pastabar believes it has what it takes. They are moving into the last open space in the food court. But that’s not all: The courageous carb purveyor is moving into the new Westfield Century City Shopping Center, and is opening locations across LA according to their website. As a grand opening promotion, the upcoming Santa Monica location is giving away free food if you download their app.
Like so many of you who keep checking this blog for updates, I too am excited and anxious to see what the new Westfield Century City Shopping Center is going to look like. Recently, a new wing of the glam mall opened, albeit with few stores open yet. Although much of this has been reported, here’s a look at what’s coming to the food scene…
As you know, I’ve been carefully watching the developments during the renovation of the Westfield Century City Shopping Center. As we get closer to the unveiling of the glitzy new dining and shopping destination, here are the latest developments. While much of this has already been reported, this is what you can actually see:
What’s Now Closed:
Coral Tree Express finally closed in the mostly boarded up food court.
Tenacious Breadbar vacated its first floor location.
The Hillstone Restaurant Group’s Gulfstream is now gone.
What’s Coming:
California Pizza Kitchen has an ABC license posted on the second floor.
Manhattan Beach’s Petros Benekos will be bringing his Greek/Californian cooking north with an outpost of Petros Speakeasy on the second floor.
Signs have gone up confirming that Orange County’s wildly popular Mexican restaurant Javier’s is indeed moving into the old Season’s 52 space.
And if you look carefully at the Gulfstream photo above, you’ll see mentioned that Taiwanese noodle and dumpling experts Din Tai Fung is coming along with the wildly-anticipated and oft reported Eataly.
What’s now open:
LA’s latest branch of New York’s popular Shake Shack opened last week to long lines.
One of the last holdouts in the rapidly developing Westfield Century City Shopping Center, Vanilla Bake Shop has finally closed. Apparently, they may not be returning to the glitzy new mall once it opens sometime later this year. The website states that the upcoming Pasadena location is where they are relocating.
I’ve been carefully watching the bleeding of eateries from the food court of the Westfield Century City Shopping Center. While I don’t have confirmation, I’m beginning to wonder if the restaurants must leave because of an upcoming renovation to the court to keep it in line with the flashy new mall, set to be unveiled sometime next year. The latest casualty: Asian bun and noodle joint Take A Bao recently disappeared. As always, I’ll keep my eye on things…
We wait with bated breath for the changes that are coming to the Westfield Century City Shopping Center. And as things dramatically transform in the food scene, yet another eatery falls to the wayside. It was only just two years ago that I told you that Vietnamese restaurant NiBi Pho Bistro had secured a space in the famously capricious food court. Plywood recently went up over the space informing us that they have closed. That leaves only eight eating places left in the court by my count…
As we all wait with bated breath for the new Westfield Century City Shopping Center to emerge from the dust of construction, thereby gracing us with an outpost of mythic Eataly and 15 promised new restaurants, the troubled food court continues to lose inhabitants. Recently, the short-lived branch of quirky Korean pizza giant Mr. Pizza disappeared, as did Fatburger just to its left. By my count, that leaves 5 vacancies…
They’re dropping like flies in Century City… It was only back in December of last year that I noticed that Melrose’s specialty sandwich shop All About The Bread had quietly slipped into the turbulent waters of the food court of the Westfield Century City Shopping Center. Sadly, they have abandoned their space in the rapidly changing mall. That brings the total number of vacancies to three…
With all of the upcoming changes to the notoriously capricious food scene of the new Westfield Century Shopping Center currently under construction, I’ve been watching the extant restaurants very closely. Even with the promise of the new and glam 2.0 version of the popular shopping and dining destination, expected some time next year, the mall is still bleeding eateries. Recently, Seiki-Shi Sushi bit the dust. And now it looks like longtime food court poultry purveyor The Juicy Bird has vacated their space. I’ll continue to keep watching the changes…
We’ve known for a couple of weeks now that Danny Meyer’s wildly popular N.Y.-based Shake Shack was coming to the Westfield Century City Shopping Center. But apparently, the burger stand will be bigger than originally thought. The first plywood went up over the space on the second deck that housed Solstice Sunglasses. But recently, the plywood has crept closer to Obica, swallowing up the mall’s outlet of smoothie chain Jamba Juice in the process. No word on Shake Shack’s opening date, but I’ll keep watching.
It looks like there’s yet another change in the capricious food scene of the Westfield Century City Shopping Center. Seiki-Shi Sushi has closed up shop and vacated their center food court space. No word on what may be replacing it.
In more juice news… It was only last year that I noticed that “never conventional” juice company Juice Served Here was heading to the Westfield Century City Shopping Center. After pouring healthy libations from their diminutive first floor location in the center of the mall for a little under a year, JSH has moved to a flashy new prominent location in the food court. The move was probably due to the fact that most of the mall has now closed in order to make way for the glitzy new 2.0 version of the popular shopping destination arriving sometime next year.
Well, I didn’t see this coming… According to signs posted on the door, perpetually busy and cheekily-named Pink Taco has closed its doors on the second floor of the Westfield Century City Shopping Center. I’ve no idea what will take over the space and popular outdoor patio facing Santa Monica Blvd. With all the new construction and upcoming promised eateries, the mall will be barely recognizable sometime next year. I’ll keep you posted…
Keeping you abreast of the changes at the Westfield Century City Shopping Center, here’s the latest… It appears that the mall’s branch of international sandwich chain Subway has quietly ceased to be. Not sure what happened, but could it have had anything to do with the location which was set in the quiet corner near the children’s playground? (Did you even know that existed?) With all the glamorous new changes coming, I doubt we’ve seen the last of the utilitarian lunch spot, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
You already know that when it comes to the upcoming changes to the food scene at the Westfield Century City Shopping Center (and there will be many)… I got this. So here’s the latest: The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf that inhabits the prominent location in the erstwhile center of the mall is closing. But a new branch will be reopening nearby. It is taking over the old space built for the long-gone Potato Corner near the recently new See’s Candies. It looks like the move will be complete sometime in February. We’ll have to see what takes over the old space…
Snazzy upscale coffee purveyor Alfred Coffee has the perfect idea for your last-minute stocking stuffer. If you can’t make it into one of their stylish branches on Melrose, in Brentwood, or in Silverlake, just pop into the Westfield Century City Shopping Center. There, you’ll find The Alfred Coffee gift box, essentially a vending machine filled with bags of coffee, gift cards, and Alfred gear. You’ll find these little treasures near J.Crew.
With all of the changes coming to the Century City food scene, I’m keeping a close eye on all the developments. Back in August, I told you about the relocation of the Century City Shopping Center’s branch of beloved chocolatier See’s. Their previous address in the mall was completely torn down to make way for the upcoming expansion. Wasting no time whatsoever, See’s Candies is now open in its new location, near Breadbar, and just in time for Holiday shopping…
The Westfield Century City Shopping Center is a flurry of activity and construction lately. We’ve been promised 15 new eateries (including Eataly). The latest? Melrose’s specialty sandwich shop All About The Bread has opened a branch in the food court. The concept here is a focus on artisan, handcrafted bread that is baked fresh every 30 minutes delivering a product with a crunchy exterior and fluffy interior which is then used to make any one of a number of signature sandwiches. Check out the menu and read more here.
Create your own exclusive spa experience at home… Voted Travel + Leisure’s #1 destination spa for 2015, Golden Door has long been the choice for celebs and those in the know to get a bit of Zen back in their lives. You may not be able to visit this famous Shrine of Hygeia in Escondido, but now you don’t have to go that far… at least to try some of their proprietary packaged foods, spices, and condiments. A new kiosk has opened in the currently-ravaged Westfield Century City Shopping Center that offers an array of foods from the iconic spa, as well as skin products and other items that you can check out here.
