Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Eastside news

Just a little preview of the upcoming neighborhood news I'm working on for the Los Feliz Ledger...
Longtime Chinese favorite (or perhaps, just one of the few Chinese restaurants in the area at all) Chi Dynasty is being asked to move by its landlord, who is opening his own Chinese restaurant in the same Hillhurst Ave. spot. Jonathan Chi will move Chi Dynasty down the street to 1813 Hillhurst, near the Rustic Inn, in the space which currently houses Eastside Records. Since the space will need remodeling, there may be a few months gap between the time he moves and the time Chi re-opens in the new spot.

Melanie Tusquellas is a busy restarateur...she recently bought out partner Patti Peck at the Edendale Grill, and plans to upgrade the menu with more steaks, more seafood and more bar food. And her makeover of El Chavo is coming along...the chef and menu remain the same for now, but she'll be gradually introducing more healthy, modern Mexican dishes. In the meantime, El Chavo is now open until midnight on weeknights and 2 am on weekends for your margarita-imbibing pleasure. And on Thursdays, you can catch former X-man D.J. Bonebrake playing with a Latin jazz combo. There were even rumors she was taking over the Wild Hare in Highland Park, but Tusquellas says that's not so.

And Il Capriccio's new pizzeria is supposed to open Feb. 19 on Hollywood Blvd. near Hillhurst...cross your fingers!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe the new Chinese restaurant will have actual delivery !!

Tim said...

Los Feliz is emphatically NOT the Eastside of Los Angeles! I've heard of some Angelenos living as far away as Altadena (an unincorporated municipality served by Los Angeles sheriffs), for example...

Just because something isn't located in the culinary wasteland of the Westside...

Ellen Bloom said...

Is Melanie Tusquellas from the Tusquellas family of Farmers Market fame?
I think the family owns a few of the food booths, including their own seafood place at the FM too.

Pat Saperstein said...

Oh, calm down, Tim. Everyone calls it the Eastside. I know East L.A. is considered the real Eastside, but it's passed too far into common usage to quibble over anymore. What would you call it, "the amorphous region that isn't the culinary wasteland of the Westside"? (And BTW, the Westside is by no means a culinary wasteland, either.)

Anonymous said...

Los Feliz, is of course, "East HOLLYWOOD"! If North Hollywood, which doesn't actually adjoin the REAL Hollywood, can use the name, we sure can; remember that some of the film industry in Los Angeles started in a barn where Gelson's is now.

BTW, "Eastside Records" hasn't been called that in many months, since Bill closed down. It's now "FOTA Records" or something...

Pat Saperstein said...

Ha, but it was still called "Eastside Records," not "East Hollywood Records" or "Region Eeast of Westside but West of Eastside Records," right? And yes, Melanie is from the Tusquellas Seafood family.

frank said...

So The Wild Hare is being turned into something called the York. Anybody have any information regarding this?

Anonymous said...

FOT Records is TINY! How will they ever have a restaurant there?

Anonymous said...

East of Hollywood = EASTSIDE.
West of West Hollywood = WESTSIDE
East of Downtown = EAST LA!

my little apartment said...

yep, i've got the dish on The York, as i am friends with one of the guys who bought it. im not at liberty to say much, but i can say that he lives in the neighborhood and likes what the Wild Hare had going on, so its going to keep the same vibe...but vastly improved. there will be remodeling and some changes. and the word gastropub is being thrown around...

thats all for now!

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Eastside news, there is a new coffee shop that just opened in Highland Park, appropriately called Highland Perk. No food yet, though supposedly that is coming. This is a nice place, definitely check it out if you are in the area. It is on York / 57th street.

frank said...

Thanks le lion, that's exactly what I was looking for. I'll let my friends know that there won't be much change, we love(d) the place.

Gastropub, I'm gonna start using that word.

Anonymous said...

Pat, can I assume you're not from Ellay, originally?

Pat Saperstein said...

Why would you assume that? Although I'm pretty sure those of us who are from here would never call it "Ellay."

Eugene Ridenour said...

I have a friend who has the lease on the space on Hillhurst and Prospect (the old Cap N Cork) and is not proceeding with his original project for personal reasons. So if you know someone interested in the space it's available. Although the rent is a little high, it's a great spot for a restuarant.

And yes Los Feliz IS the Eastside!

Anonymous said...

Pat---
Can u at least add "dilettante" to your revisionist Ellay territory labels? "It's on the `dilettante eastside.'" That way, we'll know what you mean. BTW, Harly Lutske was right about you.

Anonymous said...

Walked into the Il Capriccio pizza spot today, because the door was open and the pizza oven was going full bore, but the guy behind the counter said two weeks. We'll see...

Seb
thetable.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Let's get back to the posting's original topic...

Chi Dynasty is terrible. It's an awful shame that Los Feliz (and Silver Lake too) has no good Chinese restaurant. For better-than-decent Chinese food on a consistent basis, I have to travel to downtown Chinatown or go to the San Gabriel Valley.

I eat at Chi Dynasty once a year in a hail Mary attempt hoping that it's improved, but I'm always confirmed as to how terrible a Chinese restaurant it is.

I hope the restaurant that opens in its place is decent. The owner should hire cooks from the SVG restaurants! Even if s/he charged a Los Feliz markup, if the quality was SVG levels, I'd patronize the restaurant repeatedly to save the driving!