Mario Del Pero and chef-partner Judy Han plan to open a second Mendocino Farms in June on the ground floor of The Citygroup Center. Why downtown again? “It really came down to keeping things really close, keeping our identity as a local place,” says Del Pero. “There were still people who had to walk up the hill.”

Originally, the idea behind Mendocino Farms was to “take fine dining and reconstruct it at the sandwich level and make it approachable. That’s where the irreverence and playfulness of the menu comes.” The menu at the two locations will be exactly the same, with seasonal and daily specials, all market-driven.

Ana Henton and her MASS Architecture partner Gregory Williams designed the original Mendocino Farms and CASA, but at CASA’s blogger mixer on Saturday, Del Pero said he plans to hire a new architect to craft the 2000-square-foot space, which will include outdoor seating.

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1. H.C., February 3, 2009:

   Thanks for following up on this (Mario and I briefly discussed this at the CASA event, I personally am excited that the second location may have weekend hours!)

2. mattatouille, February 3, 2009:

   It’s like 3 blocks away from the other one. but now it’s only one block away from my office. AWESOME.

This entry is filed under LA Culinary Compass.