Echo Park's Ostrich Farm Team Expands With Modern Mexican Bar Concept

Echo Park is in line for another great new project, this time an as-yet unnamed bar and small plates spot with a modern Mexican focus and lots of mezcal — and it’s landing right on Sunset Boulevard.

The project is the work of Ostrich Farm owners Jaime Turrey and Brooke Fruchtman, who are taking over the closed Los Angeles Pizza Company next to Sunset Beer. The address on Sunset Boulevard is adjacent to the couple’s existing restaurant, but will offer a much more bar-friendly focus to go along with the new menu.

Turrey and Fruchtman are actually heading to Mexico City in a few weeks for inspiration on the upcoming small plates menu, hoping to use the booming scene south of the border to help guide their dishes in Echo Park. Primarily though the project will be a bar, which means lots of cocktails and a mezcal focus, something the neighborhood hasn’t seen much of yet surprisingly.

Demo of the former pizza space is currently underway and the build-out will take some time — there are plans to actually extend the footprint of the place out into the first two parking spaces and create an open patio, along with room for lots of bike parking.

The new life should help next door neighbor Sunset Beer as well, which has done much to anchor the strip mall over the past six years. Now with this upcoming bar and small plates spot, the unassuming stretch could become a highlight for locals looking to eat (and drink) well in the ‘hood.