drago centro building recipe for success
Heavy-weight restaurateur Celestino Drago, of Enoteca Drago Ristorante and Il Pastaio fame, is assembling a team of notable names to helm his upcoming Downtown venture, Drago Centro.
By way of Eater LA, we learn that former Bastide chef Walter Manzke has been appointed Executive Chef, and is currently away in Italy to research and craft the finest menu of traditional Italian cuisine for the restaurant’s early fall debut.
Adding to the dream team are Matteo Ferdinandi, former head of Beverly Hills-based Cut, now involved with Drago Centro as acting partner and General Manager, and Giuseppe Mollica, long-time affiliate of Santa Monica’s Valentino, who has been recruited to help run the front of the house.
Expect this to be a top-tier operation.
Drago Centro is currently under construction in the retail pavilion of National City Plaza, next door to French-Japanese fusion eatery Chaya Brasseria, also underway.
-BREAKING: Manzke Lands Downtown (Eater LA)
-chaya brasserie under construction; drago coming downtown
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4 comments
These are 2 great additions to Downtown LA and I think having restaurants of this calibur enter the market will help convince others to join them. Bravo to Drago and Chaya.
Agreed James. While these restaurants aren’t directly geared towards the residents and developing neighborhood, they bring legitimacy and appeal to the market.
I’ve been a big fan of Il Pastaio for years - to me, this is like Downtown scoring a new Wolfgang Puck restaurant.
“to me, this is like Downtown scoring a new Wolfgang Puck restaurant.”
and that it will with LA live. Any news on that by the way? At first I thought it was going to be a really good cal-cuisine American new type restaurant, but now, it seems to be a mid-scale concept.
Also, Eater la reported that Kris Morningstar might land somewhere downtown.
anyhow, I love all these new developments!
It took me a minute to realize that by “National City Plaza” you meant… City National Plaza.
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