It’s official: Husband and wife Jay Krymis and Michel Verdi of Padre and Mezcalero have acquired the shuttered Lupe’s De La Mar space at 301 The Promenade North. Lupe’s closed its doors at the start of the year before its neighbor Portuguese Bend Distilling followed suit.
This takeover comes after news that the Padre/Mezcalero building at 525 E. Broadway will eventually be demolished to make way for a residential development.
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Padre and Mezcalero will deputize Lupe’s. Instead, Krymis and Verdi, who formerly ran WeHo’s FUBAR and presently operate Schmitty’s in the same neighborhood, are debating whether or not to maintain Padre’s presence in Long Beach or debut a from-scratch concept.
Per Brian Addison’s Longbeachize, Krymis explains, “Me and the team are kinda divided on what we plan on doing…Padre is a strong name in Long Beach and it would make sense for us to simply move it for brand recognition. But the space at Lupe’s itself is entirely different and we definitely want to alter the feel… We want the space to feel a bit more lived-in, a bit more warm, a bit more casual.”
For the F&B duo, this means bringing to the somewhat desolate Downtown area a place “that has pitchers, that has shareables, that has an extensive happy hour — that’s a hangout more than an elevated space that is held off for special occasions.”
Whatever the space becomes, it will be here by the end of the year and we’ll be eagerly waiting.
