Gjusta Skirts Seating Problem By Exploding Into Massive Sit-Down Food Hall

Forget trying to squeeze in a few seats at Gjusta, they’re just going to blow out the walls.

What started as nothing more than Westside rumors appears to have come true today, with locals waking up to the news that an approval notice had been plastered all over the hip bake space, letting the world know that some construction is coming.

The plan, it seems, is to jump up to a massive 10,000 square feet of space by taking over two adjacent small businesses and retrofitting them to their own needs. That would give plenty of room for those much-needed sit down diners and let Gjusta start running a liquor license as well. There’d even be some leftover room for retail.

Of course, neighbors are none too happy, having been fighting with Venice already over Gjusta’s improper use of ‘seating’ (read: milk crates) and potentially dangerous driveway. That hasn’t stopped the Sunset Avenue shop from garnering tons of accolades — including a Bon Appetit Best New Restaurant semifinalist nod — and drawing in loads of people eager to get their hands on the daily offerings.

More details on this as it comes, but expect the conversion to go down rather quickly, since its certainly in the Gjusta/Gjelina team’s best interest to keep the howling ‘Keep Venice Weird’ hordes at bay by simply building, building, building.