Hatfield’s update: An end-of-December opening is planned (and yes, the former Red Pearl space gets a new paint job very soon)
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‘It’s all anyone ever asks about on Twitter,’ chef Quinn Hatfield says. ‘When’s the red paint going away? When are you going to paint? What color are you going to paint? It’s a real touch-point for people.’
Well, people, the space on Melrose Avenue that Quinn and Karen Hatfield are moving into (once Citrus, Alex, Meson G and most recently Red Pearl Kitchen) gets a new coat -- er, several coats? -- of paint as early as the end of this week (it will be off-white). The Hatfields expect their new incarnation of Hatfield’s to open by the last week of December.
Having outgrown their former 40-seat restaurant on Beverly Boulevard, the couple is readying for a debut in a storied location (Michel Richard’s Citrus was there for 11 years, but others haven’t had such a great run). The new Hatfield’s seats 70 in the main dining room, 20 on the patio, 20 more in the private dining room, and at least that many in the bar and lounge. ‘It was pretty claustrophobic’ in the old space, says Karen Hatfield. ‘And we were tired of having to tell people no, not being able to accommodate their requests. ...
We couldn’t just push tables together for a party of eight. There wasn’t even enough room in the kitchen to line up eight plates.’
Expect an expanded menu as well. At the former Hatfield’s, five appetizers, five entrees, a three-course prix fixe and seven-course tasting menu ‘might have been perceived as limiting (but it was more food than people think),’ Karen says. Quinn, still waiting for essential kitchen equipment -- such as stoves -- to arrive, says he is working on the new menu. Both lunch and dinner will be served in the new Hatfield’s.
‘This is the restaurant we expected to grow into when we opened Hatfield’s,’ Karen says. It’s also the restaurant anyone who ever tried to book a last-minute Saturday night table or a party of six or more (such as Mario Batali) has been waiting for.
-- Betty Hallock
