Two doors on the same block of Sunset Boulevard went in opposite directions this summer, about four weeks apart. On Sunday, August 2, Bobo Thai opened at 3705 Sunset in the former Bar Moruno space. It is the first U.S. location of a Taiwan-based restaurant group, and its menu is built around pad Thai. On August 31, El Condor served its last customers next door at 3701 Sunset. Before El Condor, that room held El Conquistador for 40 years.
This fall's Silver Lake openings follow that pattern. Each new restaurant comes from an operator who has already run a restaurant somewhere else. Most moved into rooms that had changed hands before. Over the same months, the block's longest run in one space ended.
Every New Kitchen Arrived With a Track Record
Here is the fall's turnover by address, from August through the announced openings of October.
| Address | New tenant | Operator's prior work | Room's previous tenant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3705 W. Sunset Blvd. | Bobo Thai, opened Aug. 2 | TTFB, the group behind Very Thai in Century City | Bar Moruno |
| 3131 W. Sunset Blvd. | Briciola, opened mid-September | Mattia Raimondi and chef Matteo Di Nicola, formerly of Cedro in Newbury Park | Spoon & Pork |
| 1629 Griffith Park Blvd. | Sous Sous at Hotel Lucile, opened Sept. 14 | Patrick Costa and Lee Zaremba of De La Nonna | A 1931 church chapel, restored by Casetta Hotels |
| 3200 W. Sunset Blvd. | Swingers, takeout set for Oct. 20 | Swingers on Beverly Boulevard, open since 1993 | All Day Baby, then Heavy Handed |
Every row has a history on both sides. TTFB plans to take a second room on the block as well. Eater LA reported that the group will open Shann Shann Rice Bar next to Bobo Thai, in the space that was chef Ricardo Zarate's Causita. No opening timeline has been given. A group that announces plans for the room next door in the same week it opens its first is committing to this stretch of Sunset.
At Bobo Thai, the pad Thai list starts with The 1938, a traditional version with pork belly. Two Kings combines pad Thai with tom yum, and Garden Party is the vegan option, with tofu, mushrooms, green beans, zucchini and tamarind sauce. Snacks include shrimp toast and green curry eggplant fries. Cocktails such as the gin-based Tom Kha Booze are served in the dining room or on the patio.
The Diner That Followed Its Regulars East
The fall's most familiar name explains why operators who have done well elsewhere are choosing this stretch. Swingers first opened on Beverly Boulevard in 1993. Stephanie Wilson has worked there since 2010 and took over as owner when the diner reopened in November 2020.
Wilson told Eater LA that many of her longtime regulars had moved farther east and kept asking whether Swingers would ever open there. "People would always comment things like, 'Oh, I wish you guys were on the Eastside,' or, 'Oh, I don't come so often because I moved to Silver Lake or I moved to Echo Park,'" she said.
Swingers is coming to Silver Lake because its owner believes part of its customer base already lives here.
The corner at 3200 Sunset has had several tenants. All Day Baby held it until 2024. Heavy Handed, a smash burger restaurant, opened there in March 2025 and closed in spring 2026. Wilson told Eater she hopes to add a dish honoring the late All Day Baby chef Jonathan Whitener. "I'm really honored to take over the space that All Day Baby had," she said.
According to both Eater LA and Hoodline, Swingers planned to start with takeout on Tuesday, October 20, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Takeout hours were then set to run 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. starting October 21. The full dining room is expected in December, open 8 a.m. to 3 a.m. The menu will match the original location's: California omelets, buttermilk pancakes, the Swingers burger with sautéed onions, and a hot turkey sandwich. The room will have the same plaid booths, mosaic tile and wood paneling.
Small Rooms and Slow Builds
The two sit-down openings are not trying to win on scale. Briciola means "crumb" in Italian, and Eater LA reports the name refers to the dining room's small size. Raimondi and Di Nicola ran Cedro, a Michelin-recognized Italian restaurant in Newbury Park. They closed it in late 2025 to move to Los Angeles. Raimondi was born in Belo Horizonte and raised in Northern Italy. The menu mixes his two backgrounds, with dishes like cachaça cavatappi and bolinho de bacalhau served with natural wines.
Sous Sous took even longer. Casetta Hotels spent six years renovating the building at Lucile Avenue and Griffith Park Boulevard, which opened as Bethany Presbyterian Church in 1931. The restaurant sits in the former chapel. The bar is shaped like a church organ, and the original stained glass and arches have been restored. The hotel around it has 25 rooms.
The local ties are part of the design. Local artists' work hangs on the walls, the restaurant partners with Skylight Books in Los Feliz, and herbs come from the hotel's rooftop garden. Costa and Zaremba's menu combines French and Southern cooking. It includes oysters with an Espelette pepper rim, hush puppies with honey butter and serrano chile, and a bouillabaisse for two. At the bar, Zaremba makes a mezcal-and-chicory espresso martini.
The pairing has been tested before. Casetta first worked with Costa and Zaremba in 2025, on a second De La Nonna inside the Hotel Marina Riviera in Big Bear. So Sous Sous is a hotel group bringing a team it already knows into a building it spent six years restoring.
The Long Run That Ended at 3701
The same months that brought these arrivals ended the strip's longest run in one room. El Conquistador held 3701 Sunset for 40 years. El Condor, a Mexican restaurant and cocktail bar, followed for 12 more, which makes 52 years of restaurants at one address. The Eastsider reported that El Condor closed after a rent increase that followed the building's change of ownership in 2025. No new tenant for the space has been announced.
One former restaurant space is also leaving the food business. The Eastsider reported that Thursday Boot Co. is opening a store at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Westerly Terrace, based on window signs and job postings. The company designs and manufactures men's and women's shoes and also sells clothing, bags and accessories. No opening date has been announced.
This fall, the rooms opening on Sunset went to operators who already had a kitchen, a following or a partner. The room that closed at 3701 had housed only two restaurants in 52 years.
How the Week Lines Up on Sunset
For anyone heading out this week, here is where each place stands as of late October.
- Bobo Thai, 3705 W. Sunset Blvd. Open, with a patio. Shann Shann Rice Bar is planned next door, with no date yet.
- Briciola, 3131 W. Sunset Blvd. Open since mid-September in a small room. Plan accordingly if you are going with a group.
- Sous Sous, 1629 Griffith Park Blvd. Open Sunday through Thursday 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday until 10 p.m. Reservations are on Resy.
- Swingers, 3200 W. Sunset Blvd. Takeout was announced to run 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., with the dining room expected in December.
Halloween week is also on El Cid's calendar. Flippy Floppy Halloween starts at 10 p.m. on Thursday, October 29. Heads Will Roll: Queer Indie Halloween starts at 10 p.m. on Saturday, October 31. In early November, El Cid lists Friday Pilots Club on November 3 and Minty Boi Presents: Sobs Live in Los Angeles on November 5, both at 6 p.m. A Thursday night on Sunset can now mean late takeout from a 1993 diner, a bouillabaisse in a 1931 chapel, or a Halloween party a short walk from both.
If you own a home near Sunset Junction and want to know how a street where operators with track records are signing leases compares with your property's value, Isabelle Mizrahi and Coleman Eisner can walk you through the specifics in a private conversation. Book an Appointment whenever it suits you.
