Post #747469 by The Below Decks on Mon, Jul 20, 2015 11:34 AM

This from today, Monday, 7/20/15 on Eater LA:

And more news from the yet-to-open space.

Still waiting for Clifton’s Cafeteria to reopen Downtown? Join the party. The long-awaited space has been showing signs of life lately (including a fancy new light-up sign that was erected a few months back), and today comes confirmation that a few big names are fully attached to lead the opening charge.

First up is chef Jason Fullilove, who only recently left Malibu Pier restaurant for (at the time) parts unknown. Prior to that, Fullilove had worked with Mark Peel at Campanile / Tar Pit, as well as Patina’s slate of LACMA-based offerings.

On the operations side, Anuar Pinto Valesco arrives after a long stint with Neal and Amy Knoll Fraser, serving as BLD’s general manager and catering head for the rest of the group’s portfolio. Meanwhile, the bar side of things (which is projected to be its own very large beast) will be manned by Damian Windsor, who helped to open The Roger Room and consulted on many of the city’s most popular bars, from Bar Marmont to Bar Lubitsch and beyond. Most recently, Windsor has been working at Warwick, and Hollywood’s reformatted Power House.

The trio of names staking themselves to the upcoming Clifton’s rebirth certainly brings hope that a new beginning can’t be far away, though the heretofore tight-lipped ownership team won’t peg an arrival date. For now, the construction is still ongoing.