Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Coming soon: More soulless corporate restaurants!

Glendale: I know that header got you guys all excited, but just in case your mother-in-law is coming to visit next year and is dying to find the closest Cheesecake Factory, you can assure her that there will indeed be one at Americana on Brand, the upcoming Grove-esque development in Glendale, according to Franklin Ave. And a Pinkberry. And something called Brunello Ristorante, which, I'm just guessing here, is probably not a small family-owned trattoria in the vein of La Buca. I don't know, now that Glendale has its own Target, maybe it should stop while it's ahead.

Downtown: And as I reported last week in Variety, the L.A. Live complex will include the following mix of rather pedestrian eateries: Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar; the Farm of Beverly Hills; the Conga Room; a branch of Celestino Drago's Il Pastaio; Katsuya; Yard House; and Rosa Mexicano, a New York-based Mexican restaurant with a David Rockwell design.

Other news from our Downtown issue: also opening later this year is Mercury Liquors in a former bank vault on Sixth Street, with a "Blade Runner"-style noodle bar upstairs and a mobster-meets-art nouveau speakeasy vibe in the downstairs bar. Also, here's an update on other spots planned Downtown. First up: fancy sushi bar and robata restaurant Takami is set to open in late July in the penthouse at 811 Wilshire.

5 comments:

Lisa said...

Wow, just what L.A. needs--for New York to show us how to do Mexican.

Katsuya is everywhere now. He's in danger of becoming the Cheesecake Factory of sushi.

Larissa said...

I actually very excited about downtown's growth spurt. Good for nearby residents like myself, and good for the development of the city. Plus, The Yard House rocks :)

Anonymous said...

I'm normally against soulless corporate restaurants, but I'll make the exception for doon-toon since it needs all the life it can get.

Someone poke me when there's a Whole Foods or Tesco there in the ol' 213.

Anonymous said...

I too am excited about the growth of downtown. We really don't have many options down here and I personally am looking forward to being able to pop in and get a Farmeooh from The Farm when ever I want! YEAH!!!!

Anonymous said...

Are all Cheesecake Factory locations as disgusting (and crowded) as the Pasadena location?