Crustacean's Final Dinner on Bedford, and How Long Beverly Hills Dining Rooms Stay Empty

"In the eleventh hour, we got our miracle," Elizabeth An, CEO of the House of An restaurant group, told the Los Angeles Times in late July. That was when Crustacean got its lease extension on Bedford Drive. The miracle was time, not a reprieve. Crustacean's website now lists September 30 as its final dinner service, and that date is tonight.

Losing a 30-year-old room is only part of the story. Beverly Hills has watched several of its best-known dining rooms change hands since 2023. The rooms that reopened quickly had a successor lined up before the old tenant left. The one that didn't stayed dark for years. Crustacean's corner at 468 N. Bedford Drive starts that wait tomorrow with no successor announced.

What October looks like at 468 N. Bedford

Tonight's last dinner doesn't empty the building. The Times reported that Crustacean will shift to special events and takeout starting October 1 and keep going for the rest of its lease, with permanent closure set for October 31. If you have a standing order, you can still get it this month.

The kitchen isn't planning a farewell menu either. For the final weeks, Crustacean said it would keep serving its signatures instead of closing specials. That means the dim sum arranged on a tree-shaped display and the tuna cigars overflowing with tobiko, served in real cigar boxes. "We would never serve something different," Elizabeth An told the Times. "We're gonna serve what everyone loves."

The closure came from the building, not the restaurant. Chef Helene An opened Crustacean on Bedford Drive in the 1990s. Beverly Press dates the opening to 1995, while the Los Angeles Times puts it in 1997, when the corner held medical offices and a Rite Aid. Beverly Press credits the restaurant with helping popularize Asian fusion cooking. The An family told the Times they had made an offer on the building in the early 2000s but were outbid by their previous landlord. Elizabeth An said she believed she had an agreement to stay past the July 31 lease expiration. She then learned in June that the building had been sold. She told Fox 11 News that the new owner has different plans for the site, according to Beverly Press. None of the coverage published so far names the buyer or describes those plans.

The restaurant itself isn't settled yet. Elizabeth An told the Times she hopes to find a new Los Angeles location and named Pasadena and Calabasas as likely candidates. She also said pop-ups are planned at sister restaurants Tiato in Santa Monica and AnQi in Orange County. As of today, no new address has been confirmed.

Canon Drive waited years, the Waldorf waited days

Two landmark closings in 2023 show how far apart the outcomes can be.

• The Palm, 267 N. Canon Drive. The steakhouse had closed by mid-October 2023. The company's COO cited the economy, COVID, and competition, and said sales never recovered, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Bad Roman, from New York-based Quality Branded, opened in the space on May 26, 2026. The space was dark for about two years and seven months.
• Jean-Georges, ground floor of the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, 9850 Wilshire Boulevard. Eater reported the restaurant was closing the week of May 8, 2023. It also reported that the hotel's new downstairs restaurant, Espelette, was expected to open in the same space on May 12. The hotel had its successor ready before the old tenant left.

The Canon wait ended with an ambitious room. Bad Roman comes from the team behind New York's Don Angie. It has a giant neon orange snake on the old Palm facade and maximalist floral booths by Brooklyn-based GRT Architects. At the Waldorf, the downstairs room has since changed again. Hilton announced Baldi, a Tuscan steakhouse led by Edoardo "Edo" Baldi, for February 18, 2026. The Beverly Hills Courier traced Baldi to a family line that includes Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica and e.Baldi, which has been in Beverly Hills for over two decades. Ezequiel Farca Studio designed the downstairs space.

The rooftop followed the same pattern. When the ground floor closed in 2023, Eater reported that Jean-Georges' rooftop menu would keep running. That space is now Gemma, a Pan-Asian all-day patio. Chef Peleg Miron cooks there, Franco-Italian designer Marc Ange did the interiors, and the hotel officially unveiled it by mid-May 2026. A hotel that controls its own rooms can line up the next restaurant before the old one leaves. A street-front building that changes owners has to go back to the market.

The quick turnaround on Santa Monica Boulevard

The fastest handoff this year happened without an outside newcomer. At 9737 S. Santa Monica Boulevard, chef Mei Lin stepped away from 88 Club in April 2026. Eater reported that the restaurant was being reworked as Tiger Tiger under Francis Miranda, the original opening partner, with a broader, more affordable Chinese menu and a planned reopening on August 29. That's about four months from the chef's exit to the scheduled reopening. The partner who already ran the room stayed, so nobody had to find a new tenant, sign a lease, or build out the space from scratch.

Crustacean's situation is the opposite of Tiger Tiger's. The operator is leaving and the owner is new, so whatever comes next on Bedford starts from the beginning.

Month nine at 301 N. Beverly Drive

The handoff still in progress is two blocks east of Crustacean. Il Fornaio served its last meal at 301 N. Beverly Drive on Sunday, January 11, 2026. An employee told Beverly Press that the lease had expired and sales had declined. In February, What Now reported that SA Hospitality had taken over the space, based on an alcohol license filing, and that Sant Ambroeus appeared to be the concept. Eater had reported in August 2025 that Sant Ambroeus planned a Beverly Hills debut in 2026. As of the end of September, none of the local coverage gives an opening date.

That puts the corner at about eight and a half months dark. Its successor was named sooner than Canon's was, since the new operator was reported about five weeks after the closing. Whether it opens before the year ends is the next test of how fast these rooms can turn over.

Where 2026's new rooms opened

The restaurants that opened this year without that wait mostly went into spaces where no longtime tenant had to leave first.

Malka is chef Eyal Shani's first full-service restaurant in Los Angeles. It's fully kosher, and the menu includes the Queen Malka Schnitzel, a chicken schnitzel stuffed with mashed potatoes. Beverly Press reported that it serves dinner Sunday through Thursday. Vicky on Rodeo is an all-day Parisian brasserie at the top of the steps next to Tiffany & Co. Owner Vincent Benoliel, a Beverly Hills resident, named it after his Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and told the Courier the city "was missing a casual French brasserie with reasonable prices." The Supper Club at The Beverly Hills Hotel is planned as a 94-seat room led by Mattia Agazzi, formerly of Gucci Osteria. An August 31 Eater report described it as coming before the end of the year, not as open. The Courier has also reported that Noble 33 will open at the Rosewood Residences in 2027.

None of these replaced a 30-year tenant. Hotels and new developments added rooms, while the old street-front corners had to find a new tenant first. Bedford Drive is at the start of that process, and the best-known part of it is the October takeout window, which closes on October 31.

The sale at 468 N. Bedford became public through a restaurant's farewell before any new plan for the building did. If you own near one of these corners and want to talk through what a sale or a long vacancy nearby could mean for your property, Renée Avedon is glad to talk it through, discreetly and in the language you're most comfortable in. Let's Connect.