Why is Melrose Hill the new culinary hotspot in LA?

Melrose Hill’s Incoming Dining Star Serves an Ambitious Seafood Tasting Menu

Corridor 109, the modern seafood fine dining restaurant by chef Brian Baik, is set to open in Melrose Hill in 2025. As of now, the pop-up is located temporarily in Chinatown, featuring a per-person tasting menu at $275, incorporating top-tier ingredients from Japan and Korea. After years of exploring Melrose Hill with his parents, who own Kobawoo restaurant in nearby Koreatown, Baik has now acquired a former furniture store to house Corridor 109. “There’s a good parking situation, it’s not over-commercialized, and there’s a lot of exciting projects in the area — it just feels right,” said Baik in an emailed statement.

Corridor 109 made its debut as a pandemic-era pop-up, available only on Mondays, in Baik’s parents’ Koreatown establishment. Baik, after spending years in prestigious fine dining establishments in New York City such as Eleven Madison Park and Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, and training under Nozomu Abe of Sushi Noz, returned to Los Angeles to assist at Kobawoo. In January 2023, he relocated the pop-up to Chinatown, operating a few days per week with a modest team and budget, aiming to woo potential investors and build a clientele.

For the permanent Melrose Hill site, Baik plans to serve a tasting menu at an eight- to 10-seat counter positioned towards the back, while also running a cocktail and wine bar with a limited food menu named Bar 109 at the front. “I felt it would be important, especially where I’m opening, to have a component that serves the neighborhood and community, to be a place where people that live nearby can hang out, come in for drinks or bites to meet with friends,” he said. Bar 109 will be open from early evening until midnight six days a week. The tasting counter will reflect the food at Corridor 109 but with the addition of an open kitchen, enabling interaction with the diners that Baik hasn’t provided before.

How Melrose Hill Became LA’s Hottest Culinary Boom Town

Located north of Larchmont Village and south of Thai Town in Hollywood’s Studio District, Melrose Hill is swiftly becoming a hotspot for breakfast dates, lunch get-togethers, and romantic dinners. A flood of new food and drink venues that started emerging in 2021, such as New Jersey deli Ggiata, Louisiana fried chicken seller Le Coupé, and Filipino eatery Kuya Lord, are drawing crowds of diners curious to discover the neighborhood for themselves. Newcomers to the area’s expanding list of establishments include the Italian restaurant Ètra and its daytime counterpart Café Telegrama, both opening their doors in late 2023.

According to Zach Lasry, the real estate developer whose investments and efforts are reshaping the area, this is merely the beginning. Alongside his billionaire father Marc Lasry, co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, Zach is behind the development of 14 buildings in the neighborhood, encompassing 18 storefronts. Since 2019, the Lasrys have been buying properties and collaborating with the real estate and design group Creative Space to restore their former elegance and lease them to small enterprises. Ggiata started its journey on Melrose in March 2021, while Le Coupé and Kuya Lord opened their doors in 2022.

Emerging food and drink tenants include a wine bar and tasting room by Jumbo Time Wines, a permanent site for seafood pop-up Little Fish, another venture by Holy Basil that combines gourmet cuisine with traditional street foods, and another wine establishment named Bar Etoile by the owners of the beloved 15-year-old wine shop, Domaine LA. Additionally, two former employees of Honey Hi are set to transform the old Produce for Less Market space into a contemporary grocery store and café named L.A. Grocery & Cafe.

The Evolution of Melrose Hill

A short distance from Paramount Studios, Melrose Hill technically encompasses the area just east of Western Avenue, famed for its picturesque, tree-lined side streets and mix of Craftsman and Colonial Revival-style homes, which earned it a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone status in 1988. While specific demographic statistics for the neighborhood aren’t available, nearby Hollywood boasts a majority Latino population, making up 52 percent (an increase from 50 percent in 2020), with a median household income of $57,102, based on 2023 Census data.

The Lasry properties scattered along Western and Melrose avenues were previously dominated by discount furniture stores for the last three decades. Residents noticed upcoming changes as early as 2015 when a Chick-fil-A opened a quarter mile north on Western Avenue, close to Melrose Hill. Additionally, new posh residential real estate projects, such as Qwil on Wilton Place, have emerged since 2020, with more planned for the future. Independent of Lasry’s endeavors, art houses like David Zwirner, minimalist women’s clothing store Co, and French bakery spot Maison Matho have all recently established themselves in the area.

When high-end businesses establish themselves in more affordable areas, concerns often arise among long-time residents about the rising cost of living. However, unlike other Los Angeles communities like Chinatown, Highland Park, and Glassell Park, which have seen anti-gentrification protests, Melrose Hill has not experienced such activism, according to a representative for Council District 13, which includes Melrose Hill. The representative tells Eater they are unaware of any displaced residents and have not received phone calls regarding Lasry’s efforts. The spokesperson believes the areas surrounding Melrose Hill were historically less organized than other parts of Los Angeles and suspects that because the neighborhood spans three different districts, its community organizing efforts are more fragmented.