bottega louie restaurant & gourmet market: the home stretch
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Checking in with Bottega Louie Restaurant & Gourmet Market on Wednesday, the eye-catching eatery at 7th and Grand is heading into the last leg of construction after nearly three years in the making.
Marble flooring has been installed throughout and remains covered during construction, while two kitchens, a catering prep area and a high-end pizza oven are nearly complete. Production on replica crown moldings, custom cabinetry, brasswork and furniture is ongoing.
At 10,000 square feet, there’s no denying the venue will command the attention of restaurant watchers based on sheer size alone. But with a jaw-dropping $3.2 million opening price tag, nearly 250 employees (40-45 expected during peak periods) and breakfast, lunch and dinner overhead costs, I couldn’t help but ask about expected customer volume and foot traffic numbers.
My concerns were met with a plan to draw in those finicky Downtowners: The high-profile corner location has glass frontage on “Restaurant Row,” a moderately priced dine-in and to-go menu, and — this is the good part, angelenic readers — three full days of tastings and Downtown “friends and family” runs to help grab some attention before the grand opening.
As owner Keat Bollenbach and President Daniel Flores looked to the success of Downtown’s Ralphs Fresh Fare while spouting off facts, figures and menu choices, it was clear that everyone involved is just eager to get the doors open and see how the whole operation just runs.
I can’t say I blame them. Every recipe has been scrutinized, tested and tweaked 100 times at minimum over 14 months in test kitchens in Orange County and Los Angeles with a kitchen staff led by Executive Chef Chris Goossen.
The pizza bar will serve up Neapolitan pies with fresh, high-quality ingredients, along the lines of Grimaldi’s in New York — though if there’s one thing I’m sure of it’s how particular New Yorkers can get about their pizza. I’ll be happy if it can hold its own against Village Pizzeria in Larchmont Village or — gasp — reigning LA champ Pizzeria Mozza.
A full bar boasting concoctions created by respected mixologist Kim Haasarud (Liquid Architecture) is a good sign for classic cocktail aficionados and champions of fresh ingredients alike; a selective wine list by Tim Smith will also be available.
Coffee more your thing? Custom-roasted Lamill coffees will be served all day long from 6:30am. And let’s not forget about the planned gourmet market — 2,500 square-feet of hand-picked epicurean goods, small gift items and prepared foods, bringing the sophistication and grocery experience of New York’s Dean & Deluca to Downtown Los Angeles.
With so much wham and muscle, it’s not a stretch to say Bottega Louie — filling the entire ground floor of the Brockman Building at 7th and Grand — will become the new cornerstone of Restaurant Row.
Owners of the behemoth operation are working to have it on its legs by January 2009. Stay tuned for more info as the date draws nearer.
Bottega Louie
700 S Grand Avenue (The Brockman Building)
Los Angeles, CA 90014
bottegalouie.com
Menu (Subject to change)
Planned hours: 6:30am to 11:30pm
Opening January 2009
47 comments
I am very happy to see this project come to fruition. This is definately a high end market, and I’m sure won’t be cheap to shop at, but I think the foodies of downtown will flock to an establishment like this. I know I’ll be there.
Drool, drool, drool…
I’m more excited about this one more than anything. ANYTHING.
I swear, where do people get the money to spend at places like this? I pull in the low six figures, and by the time I pay my rent, properly fund my retirement accounts, make my car/insurance payments, and put a little money in savings, I don’t have any extra cash for $15 dollar sandwiches and $4 cups of coffee.
Granted, I’m assuming that this place is pushing to be something like a Dean & Deluca-ish place (maybe I’m wrong though). And as much as I loved looking around D&D when I lived in nyc, I rarely bought anything when my food coop sold the same merchandise for half the price.
A serious question though, what is the average salary for a person living downtown? I thought I was doing pretty well, but evidently places like this are targeting people making much more than I am.
Jim: I might be missing it but I’m not seeing $15 sandwiches on the menu (linked in the post). I’m seeing $8 pasta plates, $16 pizzas and $15 chicken entrees.
Hope it does well, but I don’t know about this one. Sounds great though. Is there parking for this? I think I’ll be going to Ralphs for food and a real bar to drink. Food prices are very expensive for a market too. I don’t know if I want to eat a $20 entre in a market. They should have just opened a Whole foods.
For the record, it’s a sit-down restaurant with attached market, not just a market with food. 10,000 square feet = 7500 sq.ft restaurant and 2500 sq.ft market.
Jim, A poll conducted by, I believe, the Downtown News last year put the Downtown average salary at $100K.
^It was the DCBID. They’re about to rerun that demographics survey. I’m very curious to know how Downtown has changed since it was last run.
Is the bartleight building the one on 7th and spring? If it is are those market rate residential and why is it they we never hear anything about them?
I wonder what the average salary is this year.
Ok, I’m down with a sit down restaurant. Food better be damn good, sounds like it will be. I guess the bar is part of the restaurant too? I’ll for sure try it out.
The BID survey did not report an average salary of $100,000. The figure was the average annual income of condo buyers downtown, which was listed as just under 100,000. That also includes speculators who do not live in their units, and excludes renters, who are the vast majority of people who live and spend money downtown. I hope that any new business owner opening downtown understands this.
That’s why it’s so important to have constant visitor traffic from not only tourists but other Angelenos coming from all parts of the county. If fancier restaurants are relying heavily on just DTLA residents, it’ll be harder to pull off. However, if you’re drawing people from all over, including the millions of tourists that come to LA every year, then you got yourself a much better chance at success.
I agree with Brigham that Bottega Louie can survive as a destination for visitors coming to Staples Center, Nokia Live and the Convention Center. It cannot survive on Downtown’s residential business alone. I will come in for coffee, pastries and groceries but not every day or I’d be broke!
I know there’s already a slew of restaurants lined up for LA Live, but Bottega Louie offers something unique and “out of the way” for visitors. If they can stay open as late as planned it will be good news for them. I love the marble interior- it’s got that classy old world European feel.
You expect someone to walk from LA Live to 7th and Olive?
People will walk from 7th and Metro down Fig to Staples. Maybe a few people will wander over to Flower, but that’s it except for the South Park area around the Met Lofts/Eleven.
They’ll get some of the working crowd there for lunch, and if it’s as good as they say it is then people will go there after work and for drinks.
What’s the parking situtation going to be like over there? Validated parking like Ralphs would get a lot more people to go there.
Well im very excited about this. I am one of those people that love downtown los angeles. But I live 8 miles south east in Montebello. I pass through downtown several times a week. And I “choose” to shop, eat and play downtown. Eventually in the near future I do want to live downtown.
Bottega Louie has better potential of succeeding because of its multiple aspects- the restaurant,bar and market.
Sounds like they service all types of needs, I know I don’t like to cook after a long night at work. I can’t wait to try the pizza! How does someone get on the invite list for the opening?
^Read about it here on angelenic.
I too don’t think people attending events at LA Live or up at Disney will be making their way to 7th and Spring.
I love the idea of new businesses coming into the area, regardless of what they are. However, I’d love to see some affordable options for every day downtown dwellers.
They will have a very hard time as a sit down restaurant, unless it is very, very good (pinot or michelin star). I seriously doubt their restaurant will succeed in the short term. Marble floor restaurants are NOT GOOD for business lunches of any sort. That place where 7 grand is now used to be a good restaurant (across the street and also with marble). I think it failed because it was way too loud. You couldn’t hear yourself think in there. When it got slow, it was still loud (even with just 2-3 tables seated). The food was good, the service fine, the prices a bit high, but not unreasonable. Maybe the high ceilings will mitigate any noise. The problem is that this part of downtown (where I work) doesn’t have alot of large law firms (that pay for high end lunches). I was thinking it would be a fast casual place, in which case it would have packed them in for lunch. As mentioned, the residents in downtown have no money - they are nearly all renters. Renters also skew young. Young people don’t necessary draw to high end markets. Plus what doesn’t help is the building its in is either 100% vacant or nearly 100% vacant. Anyone have any word on the building? I’d love to live there, but they want like $500 sq. ft. What works for downtown dinner is Colori Kitchen type places, or the traditional Water Grills/McCormicks. This is a huge risk. I’ll go there, but I don’t know that many renters that don’t have a food budget. I really really hope they have a fast casual service for lunch. There is alot of demand for that in the area.
$100,000 ugh I feel soo soo poor now…but I still cant wait to see this place open and wake up that corner.
P.S. anyone hiring? Im sick of my tech job at OneWilshire…I need something new in Downtown.
Judging for the photos, this place is definitely going to be a game changer for downtown. You’d expect a place like this to open on the westside. The chicness of this place is really a first for the neighborhood.
This place might struggle a bit, Ralph’s seems to get a lot of its business from
1. students (fidm, sc)
2. people from areas surrounding downtown
3. lunch crowd
Don’t think Botega will get 1 or 2. But it will get 3. A questionable economy and too few high wage earners could be bad for business. Overhead (250+ employees) and parking? could prove problematic.
What is the parking situation?
Don’t just look at the tip of iceberg . There are 500,000 people who work in downtown. I think Botega will do well.
For all of you who are so concerned about the “parking situation” take note that just to the south of Bottega Louie there are blocks and blocks of surface parking lots. They are a blight on our city, but there is no shortage of parking. I do suggest, however, that you try walking or Metro. This is not the suburbs.
Hey Bert. You’re right, this is not the suburbs. The problem is until the MTA can build out a system to carry people from all parts of the city in and out of downtown, there is/will be heavy reliance on cars for transport. This is not the suburbs but its far from being Manhattan or Chicago either (from a transit perspective). So parking is an issue, even if we’d like to focus on other priorities.
Always a Party:
Wrong again.
Chicago CTA Rail: 157 miles.
LACMTA Metrorail: 72 miles, will be 92 miles in two years.
So, we’re getting there. We’ll be up there with Chicago eventually, sooner than you realize.
How am I wrong Scott? Can you take the metro from West LA to Downtown? No. Can you take the Metro from Century City to Downtown? No. Can you take the metro from West Hollywood to Downtown? No. I’m was never talking about miles of rail. I was talking about linking communities with downtown. The MTA does not link all the communities to DTLA, so people have to use their cars until that happens.
In yo face.
I agree with Party. Even if you have twice as many rail miles as chicago in LA, it will still be easier to use public in chicago. Chicago is about 100 sq. miles (at least the part that matters). LA is ten times that. Sprawl…
Plus, you can suggest to people “you should walk” but they aren’t going to. Rather than tell people what to do, predict what they will do.
Angelenos are good at driving and finding parking spots. As you know cars are like their feet. Therefore, in my opinion, parking is not a concern. It is the quality of food.
Take a bus and use metro.net to plan out your journey. People need to stop complaining about metro and actually try using it, whether its the rail or buses. We all make choices and there are trade offs by doing so.
. Plus the vast majority of us were not born in cars, unless your momma went into labor in a car..lol
I will be taking a metro bus, like I do several times a week to get into downtown LA. My one way commute into downtown from Montebello is 37 to 39 minutes and 8 miles. With the money i am saving in transportaion costs by not driving a car, I can more than afford to splurge at Bottega Louie
Driving is not a right but a privilege.
I am looking forward to Bettega Louie to finally open. As far as Ralph’s being competition, let’s just hope that Bottega Louie doesn’t sell expired food, like Ralph’s does. I have bought many gallons of milk only to realize that the milk either is expired or going to expire in a day. Bottega Louie is going to save me a few blocks of walking to Ralph’s and hopefully it will be all worth it…
The potential for a restaurant in a borderline downtown setting? There is the Palm restaurant few blocks south of Bottega, in what originally, if not still today, was mainly a desert of parking lots and small, industrial type buildings.
I remember when The Palm first opened, I scratched my head because I couldn’t figure out how it was going to attract enough customers to survive, much less thrive. Of course, Staples Center was not too far from the restaurant. But sporting events often are scheduled in an inconsistent manner (the Lakers, etc, don’t play year round), and more importantly, attract people who will be inconvenienced getting caught in traffic with other spectators, paying a lot to park, getting to their seats after a game has started, eating at the concession stand because it’s close and easy, and less than 2 hours later rushing out of downtown before the game is even over. Hassled spectators, who’ve already spent a lot for tickets to Staples, don’t seem like they’d be the most reliable base of customers for restaurants, particularly pricier ones, on game night, nearby or otherwise.
But articles written since the Palm’s debut have pointed out that the downtown LA branch is one of the higher performing ones in the chain. However, is that due to the restaurant’s greater accessibility to customers because of all the parking lots in South Park? Those lots may be dreary, but they’re probably a welcome sight to folks accustomed to the convenience of the suburbs, including many parts of west LA.
Just as important is whether the minimum profit margin of the downtown Palm is easier to meet compared with Bottega Louie’s, whose level of ambition, including price of construction and staffing, sounds more demanding.
No matter and regardless, it will be a huge blemish on downtown’s reputation if the new restaurant at 7th and Grand doesn’t succeed. There is going to be enough sour economic news in the months, if not years, ahead, so adding to it with reports about problems facing Bottega Louie is the last thing anyone is going to want to hear.
My hat is off to a team of “TRUE DREAMERS”’ creating an enviorment for other dreamers to launch their talents to the public.
GET EXCITED, HAVE A SPIRIT OF HOPE! after all you could be the next BIG DREAM on the block.
there is 100,000 people working downtown NOT 500,000 AND only about 40,000 residents
LETS GET TRADER JOES!!! THIS PLACE NEEDS MORE GROCERIES
Sam: Actually, there’s about 450,000 jobs in Downtown as of the current estimates from various business groups in the area. This includes all the manufacturing, garment, jewelry, financial, artist and retail jobs.
There’s around 32,000 residents by current estimates put forth by the Business Improvement District.
It’s sad to hear so many people talking about the possible failure of this new place. Bottega Louie is going to be a place where everyone’s needs will be filled and be able to bring the downtown community together in a way nobody ever thought possible. What’s more… ok, I get that it looks like it’s going to be expensive. God knows it’s apparent that a ton of money has been poured into this place, but don’t you think that people willing to put up that kind of money would be intelligent enough to understand the market and economy in LA, let alone the country?? From my understanding… there will be no $4 cups of coffee. Granted, it’s rumored that the coffee will be from LAMILL (look it up), but I am near positive that Ralph’s will be competing with the prices Bottega Louie will be offering. As far as parking is concerned, rumors are saying valet, shuttle service, and the obvious lot next door. As far as the condos are concerned, I hear that they are also under renovation and rather than selling, they have decided to lease. I am a current resident downtown and have spent a lot of time watching the development of this place. I couldn’t be more excited!! You should all be too!!
I think there is a market for this type of place, and I look forward to trying it. I work in the 28-floor office building at 6th and Hope, and will happily walk to 7th/Grand for a little more variety at lunchtime. I occasionally even make the trek to Colori, two block s further. I know many of my co-workers will make the walk to BL for something new. Although walking up/down Bunker Hill is a problem, I would guess there will be foot traffic from the One Wilshire, Aon, and Gas Company buildings. Even the Ernst and Young building and Wilshire Grand Hotel are only three blocks away.
Does anyone know if they will do catering? That would help them keep business up, also. It’s sometimes hard for offices to find good catering close by.
I heard that they will indeed cater to businesses and other functions. They are extremely high end without the high end prices. I can’t wait for this one.
Ilive several blocks from 7th & Grand, I have been waiting very patiently for progress to reach this stage. Isincerely hope to be A part of their team. I interviewed the first week of january, I really got A good vibe from the chefs I could see myself working for guys like Chris &Sam.
I am in the food industry, downtown has
I WANT TO SEE THIS RESTAURANT TAKE OFF FROM THE START, WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS TAKING THINGS TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL,GOD BLESS YOU ALL
Since Italian food tends to suck in Los Angeles compared to the east coast, I’m crossing my fingers that they have imported some proper Italians to make it.
Also, do you really think most people who can afford to eat in expensive restaurants all the time are posting comments on blogs about it? Do they take the bus? Do they care that you think an expensive restaurant is not going to do well? Are they screaming for “community building” downtown?
They just want their valet parked Porsche to come back to them unscratched. Is that too much to ask for?
Dear Chefs: 2-11-09
Greetings!!!!! How are you guys doing!! Sounds like the constructionis coming to a close!!! Still interested with part/time cooking work!! Have
already had two interviews speaking to the executive and one of the sous-chefs in charge. Thank You God Bless- Rob Bronow-818-342-2813
When will the restaurant be opened on 7th / Grand? Cant wait to dine in
My suggestion to any job-seekers is to continue to speak with the company directly.