Spitz: Downtown L.A.’s newest meatery

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It’s hard to miss the light fixture that dominates the spacious dining room of the newly opened Spitz in downtown’s Little Tokyo. A primitive totem to the joys of roasted meat, this hunk of brushed metal hangs above the spacious dining room as if to ward off vegetarians everywhere.

The second location of Spitz, the ‘home of the döner kebab,’ doesn’t have a gelato bar, but it has a few things the original Eagle Rock venue lacks: A wine list that runs the gamut from Austrian Gruner Veltliner to Santa Ynez pinot noir. A small but carefully curated selection of draft beers: two Craftsmans (Holiday Ale and Heavenly Hefeweizen), Stone Levitation Ale and Victory Brewing Company’s Prima Pils (‘It’s like Stella but crisper and with a bit more citrus,’ says Spitz co-owner Robert Wicklund).

[More about the food & pics of Spitz after the jump.]

And for dessert, Wicklund and his business partner Bryce Rademan plan to serve dessert kebabs with bites of fruit, brownies and baklava. ‘They’re just something small and sweet to finish off the meal, and we’ll probably sell them for a dollar,’ Wicklund says. ‘Most people after they eat at Spitz are too full for any dessert. That’s why we were originally going to do a spin on fruit carts, but we thought we could be more flexible if we did this.’

Spitz will also be brewing its own cardamom-spiced sangria made from Spanish Rioja; it should be on the menu by Friday. To make the place feel even more European, you can order beer in the 7 oz. Spanish caña size, perfect for the lunchtime lush who wants to imbibe in moderation. Wicklund and Rademan also plan to transform Spitz into a bar during the evenings. With the recent opening of sausage kitchen Wurstküche and their plans to expand into a bar, perhaps this is the start of a new trend: straight-forward luncherias with gastropub dreams.

But at Spitz, it’s all about the roasted meat. The menu features four sandwiches served on either focaccia or wrapped in Armenian-style lavash: chicken, classic (beef and lamb), veg (fresh tomatoes, lettuce, green peppers, cucumbers, onions, feta cheese, kalamata olives, pepperoncini, tzatziki, hummus and chili sauce) or the falafel light. The side dishes include: thinly sliced sweet potato fries cut into perfect parallelograms and crisp, freshly fried pita strips dusted with the house’s own spice blend and served with a small cup of hummus.

On opening day the new Spitz had a steady trickle of patrons, a combination of office workers and local residents that Wicklund is counting on as his clientele base. ‘My business partner lived down here about 2.5 years ago, and we really started to feel the energy change,’ Wicklund says. ‘[Downtown] started transforming from just people who worked down here to people who lived here. When we looked at this place, it had its own sense of style, its own energy. Our business model really fits into places that have a good vibe but are still waiting for the businesses to catch up.’

--Elina Shatkin