Downtown’s ROW Project Adds Prime New Daytime Bento Box Operation

Downtown’s ROW DTLA project is speeding up its on-boarding process, with many of the most anticipated restaurants for the sprawling property set to come online in the next few months. Among them is Hayato, a thoughtful Japanese kaiseki dinner restaurant by chef Brandon Go. For now though, it’s all about lunch.

Go’s team has been on site working on the restaurant build-out and menu design for months, and to build a little bit of anticipation (and feed some hungry folks) they’re now offering weekday bento box takeaway. Here’s the catch though: The restaurant is only making 20 boxes per day, and diners have to request them in advance via Resy.

As for the boxes themselves, they sell for $46 a head — no small price, though each one is handmade with 16 unique components including seared duck breast, black cod saikyo yaki, and koshihikari rice. That price is also likely in line with the final spend to have dinner at Hayato, which is promising a refined Japanese dinner experience when it opens later this year.

Katie Gibbs

In the meantime, look for a variety of other ROW projects to come online soon. There’s Rappahannock Oyster Bar angling for an opening in the coming weeks, as well as Paramount Coffee Project (with new chef Ria Dolly Barbosa), and the massive Tartine and Chris Bianco collaboration landing soon.

Hayato’s bento program launches today, with pickups Tuesday through Friday beginning at noon.

• Downtown’s ROW DTLA Adds Thoughtful Japanese Kaiseki Restaurant [ELA]