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D.C.'s Astro Doughnuts And Fried Chicken Is Coming To Downtown L.A.
D.C.'s Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken will open their first West Coast location in L.A. come early 2017, bringing their famed fried chicken sandwiches and house-made specialty doughnuts with them. Astro, founded by former L.A. Kings player Jeff Halpern and Elliot Spaisman, launched three years ago in Washington, D.C.
Our colleagues in D.C. are fans of their Old Bay doughnut chicken sandwich, which consists of a piece of fried chicken, lettuce, tomato and a choice of dressing, nestled within a doughnut flavored with Old Bay spice. In the next few months, however, we’ll get to try their gluttonous offerings for ourselves. The 400-square-foot space will be located on 6th Street between Olive and Grand, and Spaisman tells LAist that it will look similar to other locations, such as the Falls Church, Virginia shop seen above. However, this particular location will have an open kitchen where guests can witness the frying and glazing for themselves.
Astro had been hoping to expand outside of the D.C. area for some time, and had been working with partner Art Levitt, former President and CEO of Hard Rock Cafe and Fandango, on securing an L.A. location for the last couple years. When the opportunity to open in downtown Los Angeles arose, they took it.
"Downtown L.A. has such a good vibe and a good food scene; it just seemed like a great fit," Spaisman says.
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Astro makes everything from scratch daily, which of course includes their beloved doughnuts. Their most popular is the creme brûlée: a doughnut filled with vanilla pastry creme, topped with a torched vanilla glaze. The Washington Post declared it the best doughnut in D.C. in 2013 after trying a staggering 250 doughnuts.
Another signature item is their fried chicken BLT, which consists of a fried chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, bacon and Sriracha mayo on a freshly-made savory doughnut.
"The doughnut is fried, but there's just a nice balance of sweetness, butteriness and lightness to it," Spaisman explains.
The shop should open, if all goes as planned, in February or March of next year.
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