John Himelstein Prepping Two East Side Food Projects

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John Himelstein, the honcho behind east side mainstays Gingergrass and Square One, has a couple more tricks up his sleeve. Tomorrow at 9 a.m. he will introduce Square One at the Boathouse, a breakfast and lunch concessionaire at Echo Park Lake's boathouse. Similar to the New American ingredient-driven menu served at Square One in Hollywood, the boathouse will focus on house-made baked goods (ginger-apricot scones, seasonal muffins, plus vegan and gluten-free pastries) and upgraded staples like brioche French toast bites with maple cream and a squash blossom breakfast burrito in the morning. For lunch there's Applegate Farms organic hot dogs (one topped with chorizo chili, another with organic sauerkraut from Brassica and Brine in Van Nuys), and some Square One hits like the Veggie Club and BLAT. Sides will fall to house-made potato chips, non-gmo popcorn, fries, and organic ice cream (shakes and cones) plus Häagen-Dazs bars for dessert.

It's only fitting for Echo Park Lake, post makeover, to take on a new high quality food tenant. And while Square One at the Boathouse is only going to plate breakfast and lunch (like the original Square One), food service will run until 6 p.m. So, technically, one could have an early dinner here as well.

And in other news, Himelstein has also acquired the old Sila Bistro on Hyperion and will relaunch the venue as Lucky Duck by Square One, originally thought to be named Square One Tavern. After remaining relatively untouched for the last year, workers are now moving full steam head retooling the space. [ELA]