Cafe Rockenwagner Bites the Dust in Brentwood

It seems as though Brentwood’s Cafe Rockenwagner couldn’t surpass the 18 month mark, sadly shuttering earlier this month.

The sleek spot on the corner of Wilshire and Barrington debuted in January of 2014, joining the family of Three Square / Cafe Rockenwagner restaurants and takeaways across the city. At first, the eatery was serving practically around the clock, with coffee and pastries from maestro Cesar Bermudez in the morning (plus those pretzels, of course), and then transitioning into a casual lunch space and easygoing wine bar atmosphere once the sun set.

The idea never really took off with the locals, though, and last August Bermudez decamped from the restaurant to return to his home country. Since then, Cafe Rockenwagner had resorted to tightening its hours and its concept, but even that couldn’t keep the For Lease sign from going up.

Of course, this is far from the first Cafe Rockenwagner location to go belly-up. The restaurant group has a history of both hits and misses with their outlets, but they do enough back-end wholesale business to keep things afloat.

What’s next for the still-very-new location? No one knows yet, but obviously a three-square-meals concept simply ain’t gonna cut it.