What has Saint Martha started? The popular, tucked-away new American restaurant by Jim Hustead, Nick Erven, and team is apparently spawning legions of new arrivals to the Koreatown area. Case in point: Southland Beer, a brand new bottle shop and taproom heading for the same Western Avenue strip mall as Saint Martha. In fact, they’re just a few doors down from each other.

Southland Beer takes up residence inside a former corner beauty salon, right next to Han Kook Soondae. Heavily under construction now, the plan is to eventually offer a wraparound bar and some 19 taps, plus cask ales and food. Their current (pending) ABC license is for beer and wine only, plus on and off-site sales for takeaway bottles. Think of this as Koreatown’s answer to Sunset Beer Co., but with cheese and hummus plates.

Not far away, of course, is Beer Belly, which has for years set the craft beer tone in Koreatown. The north-of-Wilshire bar/restaurant expanded not long ago to include even more outdoor patio space, while continuing to sell a wide selection of sometimes hard-to-find craft beers and often outrageous meals. How the new Southland Beer will fit into the mix is yet to be seen, but the craft beer community is nothing if not inclusive.

With construction still very much underway, target September as a likely arrival date for Southland Beer. And when it does, look for lots more non-locals to cram into the parking lot, heading for dinner at Saint Martha, or just a drink at Southland.

Southland Beer

740 S. Western Ave. #112

Koreatown