Chipotle @ Wilshire & Vermont in Koreatown LA
Chipotle Mexican Grill is taking over the former retail space of Nine West shoe store at the above-ground plaza of the Wilshire/Vermont Metro station… with 365 square feet of outdoor dining space.
The plan had been in the works since before May 2012. An application for a beer & wine license is currently pending.
Was going to mention that Chipotle last year had to withdraw from its incursion into Seoul, South Korea… but that would be irrelevant here because the clientele in that corner of Koreatown LA is not predominantly Korean at all.
This will be the third Chipotle in the midtown area of Los Angeles, after the 2010 opening of Chipotle on Miracle Mile (also on Wilshire) and the soon-to-open Chipotle on Larchmont @ Beverly.
Reactions from Koreatown natives to the news have ranged from excitement to dismay at the addition of a chain eatery that’s maybe only a step and a half higher than Taco Bell in authenticity.
Koreatown Los Angeles has a majority Latino residential population and is already chock-full of small family-owned eateries and food trucks serving tacos and burritos at all hours of the day. Chipotle would be a “clean” option in the eyes of newly moved-in residents, who ironically have constantly belittled the local offerings as too ethnic for their hipster tastes. Yes, we’ve been drowning in layers upon layers upon layers of irony as of late.
Chipotle Mexican Grill
Address: 3183 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010
Updates to be posted soon. January 2013.