Construction of BO-Beau’s rooftap nears completion. All photos courtesy of Cindy Nixon/H2 Public Relations.
The building at 144 Pine Avenue has been through a few incarnations, but the most recent restauranteurs who purchased it—David and Lesley Cohn, operators of the Cohn Restaurant Group—are hoping that their successes in San Diego will translate into a permanent home in Long Beach with their BO-beau brand.
The space originally premiered Downtown as a restaurant in 1988, when it housed John Morris’s Mums, largely considered Pine Avenue’s first upscale dining joint. Six years later, Morris was pulled into the turn-of-the-century obsession with flatscreen TV overload and converted Mums into Smooth’s, a sports bar that eventually closed its doors in 2010. The location has been empty since.
David Cohn, who purchased 144 Pine Ave. around the beginning of the year, sees Pine Avenue as the Gaslamp of Long Beach, referring to the formerly-dilapidated San Diego dining and entertainment district that, for the most part, he and Cafe Sevilla owner Eric Van den Haute singularly transformed into one of the beach enclave’s most visited spots.
“I see the same thing I saw with the Gaslamp–potential,” Cohn told the Post back in August. “And I see the potential for stuff beyond happy hours and deep-fried foods. There’s a market for something better.”
The first offering for this market is a re-design of their original San Diego-based BO-beau concept—which opened in Ocean Beach originally in 2010 and saw a second location open in La Mesa just last month—that plays on heightening American fare into something more worthwhile. One can even call it Cal-French. Think: roasted jalapeño deviled eggs and flatbread with chorizo, serrano chiles and Italian cheeses.
The 13,722 sq. ft. space in Long Beach will harbor these culinary inspirations while also adhering to the Provencal design of the flagship BO-beau thanks to Los Angeles-based design firm Spacecraft. The exterior of the building, an example of Long Beach’s Art Deco architecture, will be renovated to its former glory according to Cohn, while the inside will “will mimic a contemporary warehouse with exposed rafters housing slow-moving oversized fans, deconstructed brick arches and reclaimed wood details throughout.”
While the lower level will house the restaurant’s massive vodka bar offering over 100 varieties of the Russian staple, what will become of the much-loved 2,800 sq. ft. rooftop space? Well, Cohn has created his own word for what he’ll do with it: a rooftap. The conceptual space will feature 50 rotating draught taps that focus on California’s craft brewery offerings—an obviously safe choice since—though not on the level of San Diego—Los Angeles’ beer scene is growing rapidly.
Heading the kitchen in its entirety is longtime Cohn managing partner and chef, James Stephenson, who echoed Cohn’s sentiment about the potential of Long Beach’s foodie and drink scene.
“We’ve been scouting Long Beach for nearly a decade,” said Stephenson. “We identified the potential for this market years ago, but we’ve just been waiting for the perfect space and the right time to pull the trigger. We’re very involved in the San Diego community and we’re taking those same steps to engage our patrons here. Working alongside the Downtown Long Beach Associates has allowed us to get to know residents and we’re eager to give back to this wonderful city.”
After just shy of a year under renovation, BO-beau is expected to open its door this winter to the Long Beach public.
{FG_GEOMAP [33.768978,-118.19200799999999] FG_GEOMAP}