Library Bar gearing up to serve food

Will Shamlian and Michael Leko's Library Bar in downtown L.A. is about to open a kitchen. Manager Carlos Perez says that a menu is currently in the works and that the kitchen will most likely be up and running in a couple of weeks.

"We've been saying 'a couple of weeks' for about a month now,' " Perez jokes. "That's got nothing to do with us though, it's all about construction and permits."

According to Perez, there will be about a dozen menu items, including specialty burgers and fries. Beyond that he says the food will not resemble typical bar food. "There won't be buffalo wings or shrimp poppers or anything like that," he says, adding that the chef is a friend of the owner and will be creating similar menus for Shamlian's Sapphire bar in Studio City and for a new bar that the group is planning to open in Manhattan Beach.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times