Sbe Entertainment’s high-style Katsuya Japanese restaurant in Laguna Beach will close its doors tonight, Monday, March 4, after less than two years in operation. All locals will receive a 50 percent discount off all menu items at Katsuya today, spokesman Robbie McKay said by email.
The restaurant paired master sushi Chef Katsuya Uechi with design impresario Philippe Starck and turned out beautifully composed dishes and signature cocktails in a sleek, modernist space. At its opening in June 2011, a high-brow crowd, drummers and former Mayor Toni Iseman welcomed Katsuya’s Sam Nazarian to Laguna, at the time experiencing a flurry of new restaurant openings such as Starfish, 370 Common, Broadway and Asada.
By September, the restaurant discontinued offering lunch, stepped up midweek discounts to locals, but rarely seemed to bustle on weekends.
The Los Angeles-based company that operates three hotels and a dozen restaurants is pursuing a new Orange County location for the brand, said a company statement.
Despite the closure, sbe remains committed to Laguna through its partnership in the Umami Burger property, the statement says.
SBE gutted and remodeled the former Hush restaurant, creating a spacious dining area partially ringed in glass. The building is owned by Allan Simon, who also owns the Indy.
