panini cafe to resurrect skyline condomiums retail
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When Ralphs opened in July of last year, 9th Street between Flower and Hope became an overnight active pedestrian zone. As other retailers in the Market Lofts complex continue to join the block, the south side of the street has lacked a retail bolster — until now.
Panini Cafe, a classic Italian eatery with an extensive Mediterranean appetizer menu, is currently building out a new location on the southwest corner of 9th and Hope, filling a portion of The Skyline’s lifeless ground level.
A storefront banner and construction tape around the facade announce the tenant’s pending arrival, expected by the second week of May 2008 according to the owner.
The casual restaurant, which describes itself as “a perfect blending of Old World style favorites with healthy and modern European flair,” is a small Southern California chain with three other locations in Beverly Hills, Corona Del Mar and La Jolla. Two more are in the works for Brentwood and Hollywood.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner dishes (supplemented by espresso and a classy collection of wine) are all priced in the affordable $7.00 to $12.00 range. Morning items such as fruit, gourmet omelettes, croissants, bagels and granola will add to Panini Cafe’s expected offerings of pizzas, pastas, bruschetta, salads, pastas, soups… and, of course, an assortment of nineteen grilled paninis (five vegetarian choices).
Between this new restaurant, Maria’s Italian Kitchen, Wokcano and Caffe Primo, the west Downtown dining scene promises to become a little more pocket-book friendly this year. Not only that, Panini Cafe welcomes take-out orders!
South Park residents will no longer have to depend on Ralphs has the default quick eats standby. Let’s just hope that doesn’t equate to more post-day food dumping for the grocery chain.
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7 comments
Any idea about the hours?
Nothing concrete - their other locations are open until 9pm and 10pm. I’m expecting 10pm here, but haven’t heard anything official yet.
This is wonderful news. A true no-brainer. The observation that this block is an active pedestrian zone is absolute correct. The opening of Ralphs now sees a steady stream of people to-ing and fro-ing throughout the day and into the evening. Living nearby, I’ve witnessed this first-hand. Ralphs is invariably packed.
If this new establishment can deliver a quality experience, I’m sure they will succeed. Hopefully, the dreary 80s styling (concrete, ugh!) will be replaced with something more appealing. Looking ahead and assuming success, I wonder about the store fronts around the corner and down the block along Hope.
This is great. I’ve been waiting for this kind of establishment in South Park since I moved in. I just hope they have good weekend hours.
hopefully they will have the sense to get rid of those fugly ass tinted windows.
their website sounds promising. surely they will take full advantage of that patio to allow for sidewalk dining. of course those god awful dark-green awnings need to be replaced with some friendlier colors.
maybe i’ll check out the beverly hills location to get a taste of things to come.
This is exciting! I hope that with all of these Italian/Mediterranean eateries popping up, an Italian grocery like Bay Cities in Santa Monica is not far behind.
And, because I’m biased, the farther south, the better!
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