After just about a year in operation, El Rincón de los Dolidos has quietly closed at the former Donovan’s Stean space in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, marking yet another failed downtown venture for the restaurant group behind Culichitown, La Conde, and the long-promised but never-opened Mamá Por Dios.
The closure of El Rincón de los Dolidos brings an end to a dizzying series of concept changes in one of the Gaslamp’s most high-profile restaurant spaces, formerly home to Donovan’s Steak & Chophouse for more than two decades. Since Donovan’s closed at the start of the pandemic in 2020, the address has become a revolving door of expensive buildouts, rapid rebrands, and unrealized ambitions, none of which have managed to gain meaningful traction with San Diego diners.
El Rincón de los Dolidos opened in 2024 as a dramatic pivot from La Conde, an upscale Latin-Japanese fusion restaurant that itself lasted barely two years. Where La Conde leaned into luxury theatrics like gold-foil burgers, Wagyu steaks, and high-end sushi, El Rincón repositioned the space as a despecho-themed karaoke bar and casual Mexican restaurant, marketing itself as a place to “heal heartbreak” through music, drinks, and late-night energy…