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Downtown international restaurant Tomgeorge has closed, ending a nearly three-year run for the well-located corner property. The final night of service was on Sunday.
Tomgeorge opened back in 2016 as something of a curiosity. The place ostensibly focused on straight Italian fare, but had a background with a prominent restaurant group of out Budapest, Hungary. Over the years the focus of the menu shifted towards more Mediterranean fare, and on weekends the dining area acted more like a big, Euro-hip bar and lounge than anything else. Now the restaurant is gone forever, with no notice given to diners beforehand. The company’s Facebook page has now been completely wiped, but their largely inactive Instagram page is still live.
That’s not to say the now-former Tomgeorge space at the corner of 7th and Grand will be down for long. In its place will come Le Grand, a project from Greek brothers Alex and Chris Manos — who have both worked at prominent restaurants (Melisse, Providence, Wally’s Beverly Hills) and hotels around town — that is owned by a different European restaurant group, Porto Maltese, with restaurants in Russia, France, and elsewhere.
The plan, much like the last stages of Tomgeorge, is to turn Le Grand into a destination for Mediterranean fare in a more luxe Downtown environment, including private dining spaces and an outdoor patio. The flip for the restaurant is slated to happen quickly, with Le Grand opening for nightly dinner service 5 p.m. to midnight soon. In the meantime, Tomgeorge is gone and the place is all locked up.
Le Grand. 707 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA.