Pimp My Restaurant: El Camino Brings East L.A. to Bloomingdale
An East L.A. apartment inhabited by a young Chicano gangster and his grandmother is the design inspiration for El Camino, a Mexican restaurant from the owners of 1905, which opens in Bloomingdale next month. Crushed red velvet tufted booths mimicking the insides of a tricked-out ride and concrete blocks are contrasted with a painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe and vintage plates. Light fixtures made of steering wheels illuminate a shrine-like U-shaped bar and, eventually, a mural inspired by brightly patterned oilcloth grocery bags.
"It's a little subconscious," says designer Lauren Winter of Edit Lab at Streetsense. "It's not directly in your face." (The design firm is also responsible for nearby Red Hen and Boundary Stone.)
Owners Tony Lucca and Phil Rodriguez decided to do a Mexican restaurant in part because they felt it was a niche missing in the neighborhood. Like the decor, the menu will also have an L.A. bent. "Southern California Mexican food tends to be a little bit more traditional than, say, Tex-Mex," Lucca says.
...
Photos by Jessica Sidman
No comments:
Post a Comment