Stepps’ Journey Ends--Restaurant Will Close Next Month

In the days of junk bond kings and yellow power ties, Stepps restaurant in downtown Los Angeles reigned supreme as the place where young professionals exchanged business cards and glances while sipping Coronas topped with lime wedges.

But the yuppies of tomorrow will have to find another watering hole. After nearly 15 years atop Bunker Hill, Stepps will shut down on March 28.

“We were ready to remodel,” said Jennifer Lam, general manager of Stepps, which is owned by Seattle-based Restaurants Unlimited. But the landlord “decided to go with another operator.”

The landlord, Los Angeles-based Maguire Partners, has announced that a steakhouse will open in the space this fall and will be operated by Joachim Splichal, owner of Patina, Cafe Pinot and several other tony L.A.-area restaurants.

Stepps, on the ground floor of Wells Fargo Center, has been popular with pre-theater diners as well as downtown businesspeople. It also had a reputation as a place where single professionals could meet other upwardly mobile singles.

Economist Jack Kyser recalls parking his car in the garage below Stepps one evening on his way to another destination. An attendant, who assumed Kyser was headed toward Stepps, took his keys and said: “Good luck.”