A new Italian restaurant called Duecento Ristorante is in the works for Downtown San Diego, with plans calling for a spot at 225 W. Broadway inside a high-rise office tower in the city’s central business district. No opening date has been announced yet, but the filing marks the first confirmed San Diego location for Tudor Hospitality, a Southern California restaurant group in the middle of an aggressive multi-concept expansion.
According to WhatNow, Tudor Hospitality has submitted documents to the San Diego Department of Environmental Health and Quality for the Broadway address, which sits inside a building owned by real estate firm The Irvine Company, according to Coastal Pacific Window Coverings. Duecento Ristorante is described as an Italian restaurant concept emphasizing quality without pretension and consistency, with a menu built around craftsmanship and approachable dining, and a design meant to foster community-driven dining, per the same filing details.
Who’s Behind the Concept
The restaurant is the work of Lucian Tudor, founder and managing principal of Tudor Hospitality and former chief executive of Global Dining Inc. of California. Tudor’s résumé includes stints in Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Dubai, and the report notes he began his restaurant career at age 22 as a busboy at La Bohème in West Hollywood, working his way up over 13 years to lead the company’s parent operating entity, according to CityWatch LA. Global Dining Inc. itself is a Tokyo-based hospitality group running roughly 50 restaurants across Japan, China, and Dubai, including Tokyo’s Gonpachi Nishi-Azabu, the restaurant that famously served as the setting for the fight scene in Kill Bill: Volume 1, as reported by Restaurant Business.
Tudor Hospitality’s current Southern California portfolio already includes La Bohème, described as a European-inspired brasserie, and 1212 Santa Monica, a New American dining and nightlife spot on the 3rd Street Promenade that combines full-service dining with late-night lounge operations. Hoodline covered 1212 Santa Monica’s rise on the Promenade back in 2018, in a piece that tracked its growing popularity as part of the neighborhood’s evolving food scene.
A Bigger Rollout Across Southern California
Duecento Ristorante is one of five concepts Tudor Hospitality currently has in development, spanning Italian, cafe, and Japanese dining formats. In Santa Monica, the group is building out Trecento Ristorante, planned as a modern Italian restaurant, alongside 301 Caffè, an all-day cafe centered on simple food and everyday coffee service. Los Angeles is set to get the Tenshou Collection, while Beverly Hills is slated for a concept called Yokocho…