Damn…all the cool kids were able to run fast this morning.
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Sad I never got to try this…period.
I went yesterday at around 12:30pm. 90 minute wait, and I had stuff to do! Alas, alas. Twice now they’ve closed and I didn’t get to try their food.
Best of luck to them!
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I am Westside-based but have been known to drive out to Duarte just for one Donut Man doughnut (before they opened the DTLA location).
#TheyDontMakeChowhoundsLikeTheyUsedToLOL
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I’d be more willing once gas prices drop. I work in Pasadena and will be going in Mondays now so no excuses for me!
I think the consumer has changed. The world of food has its own ecosystem and that includes levels of customers. Needle was a great place, however, it hard to compete in a city like LA when you can find something similar elsewhere or another cuisine just as good. Even when I go to several omakase places, all the chefs know each other, and there is an overlap of customers. However, beyond those with the means to visit often, how does one decide which restaurant if you could only choose one? For restaurants on the lower price range ($$), you are competing and advertising differently and it’s hard to decide who needle’s core audience is when their price point is aimed to the general public vs higher end places where it is a bit clear on how each seat is filled.
In short this sucks and I think a lot of restaurants are suffering in some way or another. In this economy, nothing is secure unless you have enough money to not be an average Joe. Even I had to cut back and eat out less this year vs previous years.
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Absolutely not the case with Needle.
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There was nothing else like Needle imo.
Same with NYC with the next gen Canto places like Bonnie’s are not even in the same league as Needle as far as food, technique, pushing forward, etc.
This was the best new school next gen HK/Canto restaurant (casual) in the US. And now it’s gone.
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I think I get what you’re trying to say, but my only point was that venting about the “dangers” of exalting QPR on FTC specifically is a bit curious b/c the average person reading/participating on FTC is presumably very, very different from the average person in LA who isn’t reading/participating on FTC (and who doesn’t care about food, in general).
And that the average person reading/participating on FTC was likely very supportive of a place like Needle.
I’ve never been to Needle, but I can’t think of another place w/ similar food, and I don’t consider different types of cuisine to be interchangeable, even if they are equally tasty. For me, not going to Needle was more about geographic location and my own energy level/motivation to get out there (taking work schedule into account since I don’t and can’t WFH).
I don’t know if “the consumer” has changed. I think most people don’t care much about food, and I think the average person cares even less now b/c everything has become so expensive.
I do agree that restaurants are suffering.
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I think the casual vs fine/high end definitely plays a part. Then you have systems like Tock that help the higher end restaurants secure their funds and diners seated per night. When you’re a more casual restaurant like Needle, any given night is not promised and the stress that comes with that probably sucks.
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delete
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Preach!
Needle’s biggest issue was it’s in silverlake - which isn’t an issue for Pine and Crane down the street but they cater to very different clientele.
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I liked the food (mostly) but I probably wasn’t quite as enamored as many others around here.
My main gripes were they were almost always out of what I wanted the most, had very erratic opening days (and hours), and, one time, the pork chop was very gnarly and really hard to eat. All that said, I had a fantastic omakase experience once, and most of the dishes I managed to get hit very high notes. Also the owners (and staff) really gave one positive vibes, despite the many circles of hell the pandemic (and it its fallout) brought to them.
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Okay, I thought it was just me. There were a few times I was in the area (specifically to eat at other places), and I thought, “Oh, I can do a mini bang-bang.” But Needle wasn’t open. 
Chef Ryan and his wife had a baby during Covid which may explain the hours.
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Silver Lake was the worst possible spot for them. An abundance of restaurants, so the locals probably didn’t even think to try Needle.
I wonder how they would have fared in a spot with slightly fewer destination spots–thinking Glassell Park or even Highland Park–where Needle would have comfortably been above the rest. (That’s not to say they weren’t comfortably above the rest in SIlver Lake, but there’s so many damn options there.)
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It’s a mix of the local clientele, probably not the most discerning re: that food, the space, Needle wasn’t the spot to meet friends for dinner comfortably, and larger received notions about certain cuisines. Unfortunately there seems to be bottomless demand for coastal Italian or whatever.
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Are there? Restaurants on that stretch of Sunset seem to have a tough time staying in business these days, I’m curious what you consider destination worthy of what’s left. (Echo Park on the other hand…)
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Night and Market Song and Pine and Crane are the two that come to mind for staying power. Both have to be coming up on a decade.
Seeing the success of other Asian-American restaurants like those 2 might have been a factor in Needle’s chosen spot.
I felt that the LA Times and HK French toasts would help out.
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Low key the parking is absolutely horrible around Sunset Junction. The blocks closest to Needle off Sunset are permit only after 6:00pm and 8:00pm if memory serves. It’s especially absurd for that part of Hyperion by Needle. Every single residential property there has a driveway with off street parking. Of course LA is too car dependent, but if I owned a business in that nexus it’d drive me crazy.
NM and Pine and Crane seem to do fine without parking though, but different clientele. And I think there are some conventions/unstated expectations that cropped up around a decade ago, post Pok Pok and Mission Chinese, with Asian restaurants and party/convivial atmosphere, in addition to the bs idea that certain types of food should automatically be very affordable. But I may be off base with that. Just my anecdotal observation of how people in my cohort talk about some of these places.
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