The axiom is that 50 percent of all businesses fail within the first five years. The latest evidence has visited the Village in the form of a troubling development in the neighborhood’s thriving restaurant community, as The Hake, which opened as a modern brasserie nearly five summers ago amid considerable excitement, has closed its doors.
The high-end eatery, which sat below ground level at 1250 Prospect Street, opened in June of 2013 by way of Mexico City, a home base for managing partner Ricardo Dondisch. The 3,400-square-foot venue, serving Mexican and Mediterranean seafood-intensive fare, underwent an extensive redesign in 2016, featuring more La Jolla Cove views and bar space and additions and subtractions to the menu.
Dondisch explained in published reports that the menu changes hadn’t necessarily met with patrons’ approvals and that the restaurant was bringing back familiar entries, a move that resulted in a shift in kitchen personnel in the fall of 2017. Meanwhile, chefs Mickey Martinez and Diego Lopez had recently begun lunch and weekend brunch service. The venue had been on the market since January. A sale is reportedly pending.