Ammatoli will expand, Padre will move — and other food news for Downtown diners

The builders planning a massive new residential and commercial development that will replace the former City Place shopping center in Downtown Long Beach have announced new restaurants and expansions of old favorites.

A consortium of developers and investors behind the new “Mosaic” shopping district between Fourth and Sixth streets — which won approval in early 2023 — have plans for 900 rental units across three buildings and roughly 170,000 square feet of retail and commercial space.

New construction likely won’t begin until early 2025, but the consortium this week said local diners will see changes and new tenants in the existing buildings within the next month or two:

Ammatoli (285 E. Third St.) will expand for the second time since its opening in 2018, this time outdoors. The wildly popular Middle Eastern restaurant — one of two Long Beach eateries on the LA Times’ top 101 list last year — will soon expand its indoor and outdoor patio seating.

Ammatoli doubled its space in 2021 after taking over the building next door (formerly BurgerIM), adding a bakery, a larger kitchen and more seating.

Locals will also be glad to know that Padre Latin Table & Craft Cocktails , an East Village staple, found a new home near Ammatoli. The popular Mexican spot — along with cocktail bar Mezcalero — will serve its signature ceviche, tacos and other fare at 301 The Promenade North in the spot formerly occupied by Table 301.

Padre had operated for years at 525 Broadway, less than a mile away, but was displaced by plans for a seven-story apartment building.

Meanwhile, across the street in the former home of Portuguese Bend , the team behind Smoke & Fire Eatery and Villains Brewery will open a new distillery called Broken Spirits Distillery and Restaurant (300 The Promenade North). The venue will offer crafted vodka, gin, rye whiskey, wheated bourbon and aquavit, an Eastern European spirit flavored with herbs and spices.

A spokesperson for Broken Spirits said they are hoping to open in June.

With the recent openings of ISM Brewing and Sonoratown in late 2023, that block has become “a really great concentration of food,” said Michael Gazzano with Turnbridge Equities, one of the partners in the new Mosaic venture.

The total development encompasses 14 acres west of Long Beach Boulevard and east of Pine Avenue, south of Sixth Street and north of Fourth Street.

The partners announced this week that a 1.58-acre parcel in that footprint between Fourth and Fifth streets was sold to developer JPI, which will start on the first new building, called Jefferson Long Beach, likely in early 2025. That particular parcel — where Big 5 Sporting Goods was located — will include 272 units of luxury rental units, 16 affordable units, and 19,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space.

The other two buildings and commercial areas will be retained by the original investment group of Turnbridge, Waterford Property Company and Monument Square Investment Group. Construction of the next two buildings likely will commence in 2026 and will include 628 residential units and the existing 150,000 square feet of retail space.

New retailers and other tenants will likely also be announced in the coming months, Gazzano said.

The developers behind the project also plan to keep events such as the Thursday Night Market, the Farmers Market on Fridays, a quarterly Downtown Long Beach Art Walk, the semi-annual Taste of Long Beach, Summer Disco Roller Party and the Long Beach Taco & Taquila Festival.

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