A new upscale Chinese gastropub is coming to 8th and Spring, underneath Terroni, which is also under construction
The block along Spring Street from 8th to 9th is on fire. Just this one block in the Fashion District is home to four new stand-out eateries that are either open or in the works including: Parish (now open), Crane, Terroni, and now Peking Tavern. The new upscale Chinese gastropub, inspired by northern cuisine from Beijing, will be built out in the basement of the NCT Lofts building adjacent to Crane, which will also be underground. Yes, both will be directly underneath the Italian restaurant Terroni.
Andrew Wong and Andrew Chiu (with their company El Guapo) are behind the new Peking Tavern, which is billed as “Beijing street food and a killer bar.” The new Chinese concept will have food served tapas style (dine-in and take-out options) and is a welcome addition to Downtown LA’s new restaurants, which have been predominately Euro-influenced cuisine.
Expect to have a menu consisting of familiar northern Chinese dishes such as pork and cabbage with leek dumplings and pot stickers, spicy beef soup with handmade noodles, za jiang mein, beef rolls consisting of thinly sliced braised beef shank with Hoisin sauce, as well as scallion pancakes.
Construction has not yet begun, but the new Chinese gastropub should arrive in the first or second quarter of 2013.
Ok I think we have officially reached over-saturation status in this area! Bring on the retail! LOL. Nonetheless good to see this somewhat off-the-grid block developing seemingly overnight!
I don’t think this place is saturated. If the market is there, then these businesses must have the opportunity to provide their services. It can sometimes be hard to see the market because you don’t see all the people there all at once. Density is not only a function of who lives there, but the “throughput” of pedestrian traffic going through the a given area. I have seen much more businesses packed in a given location and I hardly see this as “over-saturated”. Perhaps too many folks are not use to this and still see downtown as a suburb.
I agree with Raymond, bring on the retail stores, I imagine a Tiffany & co. in one of those old bank floor buildings.
We have a developing restaurant row, a coffee row, now we need a retail row, and I’m not talking about swap meat stores, I’m talking about, Brookstone, pottery barn, Apple type stores. I can see Broadway as retail/ Theater row.
I’d rather have more diversity among businesses than these clusters. It spreads the wealth around and creates a more cohesive fabric. As downtown develops we we need more stuff in more places, especially in the blocks that are the jewelry district. It’s a black hole there. And where’s the love for the northern part of downtown? Most of the new action of all types seems to be 7th and below. With the Chester Williams building about to start leasing and the Hotel Clark coming back, as well as those new apartments in little Tokyo eventually, the northern end will have plenty of residents and visitors to support businesses.
That said, this block is definitely on fire and this is all great news.
Fantastic brink it on ,it just makes living down town even better whoopeeee
North of 7th has all the Joseph Cedeno’s restaurants…Last night (Monday) it was a 45 minute wait for 2 at Baco Mercat. His next restaurant is under construction in the old Urban Noodle location on 4th. If you have the right formula, Downtown is a great place for launching new restaurants.
@ sebastian….
brookstone? pottery barn? really? that’s what you want? what every mall and suburb in america has? i’m glad downtown LA is pretty original – especially with the newer eateries. why would we not also want original retail outlets? please please have a little more imagination and faith in local entrepreneurs. coming from the suburbs, where there’s a generic big box on every corner filled with blandly dressed, mostly bored people with no original taste, where there’s no local businesses to be found anywhere because the spirit of merchant entrepreneurship has been squashed.. i can tell you – these conglomerate brands like pottery barn are not that hot. plus, they already have a huge market nationwide – why do they need a cheerleader? shouldn’t we be cheering on those who need it – local merchants? remember, spending with a local merchant keeps all that money in LA. local merchants have better relationships with other local businesses – including various local services, manufacturers, and artisans, which means your dollar is probably going to help our specific community of people in a broader way. spending with a national merchant keeps only the LA retail branch money here to pay low wage workers and branch management – the bigger part of your dollar goes to headquarters and advertising (which granted, could be in LA, but is most likely not) – while the smallest part of your dollar goes to the factory in China which cheaply made the product you paid an arm-and-leg for. So again, I ask – why do these big brands with zillion dollar advertising budgets need cheerleaders?
Mr. Chang – I don’t think its a matter of being a cheerleader for large brands, but I do think it’s about understanding that downtown is simply too large to be made up of exclusively independent shops. Those will be a huge part of the picture and already are (check out 6th and Spring).
At some point, however, chains will likely setup shop (maybe on Broadway and surrounding number streets) and will draw shoppers from the greater area who will then patronize the local independent businesses that add a unique flavor to the area.
You may not think some of these chains are hot, but the fact is – they draw people and bringing more people downtown helps the local independent restaurants, boutiques and other businesses. The setup of an urban environment like downtown will always be more interesting than the bland strip malls you reference – the setup, means of access etc. are completely different. The beauty of a dense urban area is that it can seamlessly combine indy businesses, chains – taco stands and fine dining into one dynamic setting. Great cities across the world already do this and Downtown L.A should be no exception.
+1 for Lawrence’s comment. While chain stores do not a destination make, they will bring shoppers to this transit-connected neighborhood. While they are here, they will no doubt happen upon indie stores and eateries which just may give them more reason to come back to Downtown to shop again.
I’d like to see a healthy retail mix of both chains and indies as well as restaurants from fast food to casual dining (yeah, I said it!), to fine dining. All have a place at the DTLA table.
I completely agree with M. Chang’s comment. Downtown L.A. has no need for bland chain stores or restaurants. There are plenty of malls in various parts of the city for people who want the chain store shopping experience. What makes downtown great is the huge constantly changing variety of local start-ups. In terms of bringing shoppers, building more housing downtown will increase the number of shoppers, plus large numbers of people visit anyway for the unique experience of events such as Art Walk.
Bring on some chain stores. What a shame to have to keep spending money in Pasadena instead of downtown any time you need basic shopping that is not an independent. (Barnes & Noble, Apple, Williams Sonoma, etc.). I own an independent store downtown and until some big names come downtown it will not survive past the end of the year. Everybody says “what a great store, I love your stuff.” That’s great, but downtowners aren’t spending enough in the scattering of independents for real success. You can hardly get people in off the sidewalk. Downtown is point A – point B walking, not a strolling shopping area until big names come down here.
CANT WAIT!!! This is one of the best blocks to live in ….I Love NCT Lofts, beautiful spaces and great people ….
I mostly agree with David W. While Mr. Chang does point out that we need more independent stores, that won’t be viable unless the density and diversity of downtown Los Angeles grows larger. Just look at New York City, with all their independent stores. They survive however because they have the influx of tourists, residents, and business workers/executives of all classes flowing through their city every day. Los Angeles doesn’t (at least not yet) have this sense of businesses vibrancy, especially during non-business hours like on the weekends; just look at the people who already complain here about businesses closing too early (or closed) on the weekends!
The chain businesses need to make their mark here. They signify that the DTLA is a major place to do business. Their brand names not only market their products, but market the area as well. They become the anchor stores that support the secondary ones, including the independent shops. Our city government just can’t force small businesses develop without considering a host of other factors (city tax base income, zoning allowances, discrimination lawsuits, etc. etc.). Even more important, how can small businesses survive if there isn’t enough customers to make a sustainable profit? Just look at how Amazon and eBay have affected the retail industry. The food industry is much more viable because you can’t eat a meal through a website; you still have to physically go somewhere. So it’s understandable that restaurants are the first ones popping up everywhere in downtown. If people want more independent retail, we must wait a little further. Let’s keep building those residential buildings and bring more people into downtown. What we need is the density of people that brings in the diversity of various cultures, tastes, needs, and wants. A strong residential base and small retails require synergy. Let’s fix and clean-up Skid Row. Let’s stop that lawsuit against Farmer’s Field and even the one against the proposed new USC student housing development. Fewer developments mean maintaining the status quo that had always enveloped the mindset of our past. More developments mean breaking out of that past and altering the community for better economic and social viability.
Until we bring more people back into downtown after years of slumber, it would be ridiculous to assume small businesses can just spring up everywhere; just for the sake of supporting the underdog against the big greedy corporate profit-makers. Any small business owner knows that before you open shop, the financials have to make sense. You don’t open because “feel-good” neighbors want you too (unless their wallets were willing to speak louder than their words).