One of the world’s top bakeries moved south last year, and now it’s heading west: San Francisco’s Tartine is opening a 100-seat bakery and café in Santa Monica next week.
The expansion comes three months after the sudden closure of L.A.’s first Tartine—the Manufactory, a 40,000-square-foot restaurant complex within ROW DTLA—as well as current labor-union tensions in its original San Francisco bakery.
Despite this, founders Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson are moving forward with their latest outpost, set to launch Tuesday, March 17, near UCLA Medical Center, with more on the way. While the Manufactory made a splash with two restaurants, a bakery, a market, a wine bar and a coffee roastery Downtown, the Santa Monica outpost will more closely follow Tartine Sycamore, their pared-down Hollywood café and currently the brand’s only up-and-running location in town; Tartine Silverlake, located right at Sunset Junction, is also slated to open this year.
Expect breakfast and lunch only throughout the week, with select brunch dishes added to the weekend menu, all headed up by chef de cuisine Patrick Costa, a vet of Chicago’s Michelin-starred and now-shuttered L20. Tartine’s menu staples will all be found on the Westside soon enough, including morning buns, smorrebrod, salads, cookies and loaves of fresh bread, with a few unique dishes such as Persian-herb frittata, grits with mushroom dashi, and a plate of Tongue of Fire beans served with with salsa verde, griddled green onions and black lime aioli.
To match the breezy new setting, there’ll be a handful of wines by the glass and bottle, plus cocktails and non-alcoholic concoctions.
Tartine Santa Monica opens on March 17 at 1925 Arizona St, with hours of 7am to 3pm Monday to Friday, and 8am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday.