In the coming months, several new stores and restaurants will open their doors in Westwood Village.
The Village is now home to a new European clothing store, and students will soon be able to choose from new dining options at The Boiling Crab, a seafood restaurant, and Koala Tapioca, an Asian fusion restaurant.
The Boiling Crab
The seafood chain The Boiling Crab will open on Glendon Avenue in the building that used to house the Westwood Brewing Company.
The restaurant will serve a variety of seafood, including crabs, oysters, shrimp and clams. The first branch of the restaurant opened in 2004, and now the company has 14 restaurants in California, Nevada and Texas.
“(The Boiling Crab) has a laid-back atmosphere, and we hope to provide customers with a backyard feel,” said Bobby Ngo, general manager.
Ngo said he hopes the restaurant will be a place where customers can come and spend time with friends and family. The restaurant will serve customers for lunch and dinner, and Ngo said he thinks that it should be open by mid-December.
Koala Tapioca
A boba tea shop serving Asian fusion food plans to open its doors in December.
UCLA alumni David Mangold and Vince Ho started Koala Tapioca as a food truck named Koala Tea in November 2013 and now are expanding it to open a restaurant. Ho said the restaurant will serve a variety of boba and milk teas along with Asian fusion food. The menu will include popcorn chicken, Korean barbecue tacos, teriyaki chicken tacos and Koala fries, among other food options.
The special Koala fries have a Korean barbecue seasoning, which Ho said he thinks will be popular with students.
Mangold and Ho said they have been working toward opening the restaurant since they graduated from UCLA in 2013.
Ho said, as UCLA alumni, he and Mangold are devoted to serving the UCLA community. He added that he thinks this will help make the restaurant successful.
Double Agent
Westwood’s newest clothing store, Double Agent, is a women’s clothing brand based in Spain. The store, located on Weyburn Avenue, had its grand opening on Thursday and is the first branch in the United States.
Store manager Naliza Gomez said she thinks the store will draw in customers because the clothing embodies the West Coast summer style.
Gomez said the store is popular in Europe, especially because it is common abroad to dress in the California style, which she said incorporates summer clothing with sweaters and jackets.
She also said the style of clothing found in the store is campus casual, and she thinks it is affordable for college students, with the most expensive item in the store being a $100 pair of leather boots.
Gomez said she hopes to attract students by hosting college night social hours, when the store will open and offer discounts exclusively to students.