Charles Phan Heading South with Los Angeles The Slanted Door Expansion

The last few years have been a bit rocky for Bay Area restaurateur Charles Phan, who has had to close restaurant after restaurant. The Slanted Door chef opened and shuttered British-inspired The Coachman in just 10 months. Wo Hing General Store couldn't hack it after a year and a half in the original Slanted Door space. The Moss Room and Academy Cafe got bumped from the food program at the California Academy of Sciences. To avoid a similar fate at South at SF Jazz, he completely revamped the menu from Southern to Mexican to save the concept. All of these projects focused on cuisines vastly different from his Vietnamese sweet spot, but now it seems like Phan is returning to his roots with an expansion plan for what he's known to be excellent at: top-grossing The Slanted Door.

Phan's heading to Downtown Los Angeles by early 2016, and he told the LA Times that he was drawn to the area "because of the exciting redevelopments taking place there." This new location is in addition to his upcoming cafe at UC Berkeley. For more on the project, head on over to Eater LA, which has all of the details.