New Restos Planned For Santa Monica Place

The dining terrace via Racked LA

Two new "chef-driven restaurants have been announced for Santa Monica Place, the mall at the foot of the Third Street Promenade that was designed by Frank Gehry in 1980 and closed early this year for a complete overhaul. According to the The Argonaut, the "signature dining deck" will get two Asian-inspired concepts, XINO Restaurant + Lounge and Ozumo. XINO is a contemporary Chinese concept from chef Chris Yeo, who has Sino and Straits in NoCal. Japanese Ozumo also hails from San Francisco, and our sibling blogger up north says that while it's kind of "meh" ("there's no really good upscale sushi in SF though"), it is very popular because it's in the Financial District, big for happy hour, power lunches, etc. Is this SMP's answer to RockSugar at Century City or possibly even better? Our fashiony sister blog Racked has more info on the mall. All is expected to open sometime in 2009.
· Two Days Till Death of Gehry's Santa Monica Place [Curbed]
· Malled: A Roof With A View [Racked]
· New Restaurants, Retailers Announced for Santa Monica Place [Argonaut]