Union’s Bruce Kalman is latest addition to Grand Central Market

Union restaurant’s Bruce Kalman is the latest big-name chef to join the party at downtown’s Grand Central Market. He’ll be opening a pasta bar and market there sometime this summer.

Kalman will be joined by his partner in the Pasadena restaurant, Marie Petulla, in the as-yet-unnamed spot. They’ll be taking the long space along the south wall where Adelita used to be and where Zack Hall is temporarily running his Clark Street Bread.

“We’ll serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and have a little market where we can sell all of our goods we produce and possibly some other items,” Kalman says. “We’ll have a pasta lab and we’ll be making both rolled and extruded pastas fresh. We’ll be producing everything on site in plain view for everyone to see.”

So far, most details are vague. The menu, Kalman says, will be limited but seasonal. “Just like at Union, the menu will change based on what we find at the market that’s fantastic.”

Kalman is a New Jersey native who trained under David Burke in New York and Paul Bartalotta in Chicago. He came to the Los Angeles area to open the Misfit in Santa Monica and has also worked at the Churchill in West Hollywood. He started a pickle company called Bruce’s Prime Pickle before opening Union in March.

Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold praised Kalman for “taking chances with slightly off-kilter preparations, and they seem to be fitting into this difficult neighborhood just fine.”

Grand Central Market is riding a remarkable hot streak for attracting promising talent. Among the recent additions are Christophe Happillon at Oyster Gourmet, Hall at Clark Street Bread, Micah Wexler at Wexler’s Deli, and Mark Peel, who will be opening the seafood spot Bombo shortly.

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