Chowder Room Will Close on South Broadway

Diners still have time to get to the Chowder Room for one last seafood dinner before the restaurant closes on January 20. Owners Matt and Carrie Stein announced late last week that their 3-year-old South Broadway business is closing, but not for reasons worried patrons might think. Business is doing well, according to Carrie, but the couple will relocate back to Los Angeles for a new job that they “had to take.”

The Chowder Room opened around this time in 2015 at 560 South Broadway, in a neighborhood not quite but on the verge of becoming more pedestrian oriented. The couple has seen increased walking traffic over the years, and their small business — a temple to New England-style chowder and seafood plates such as barbecued shrimp — is part of that changing neighborhood. While chef Matt has spent years in and behind restaurant kitchens from Le Cirque in New York to King’s Seafood Company in California, this was the husband-and-wife team’s first venture together. Carrie says she spent every day for the last three years working on the business. And Chowder Room gained a loyal following accordingly: “People come in here, and it evokes memories of where they came from.”

No special fanfare is in order leading up to the last day of operation. The couple wanted to announce early for fans and especially for longtime employees. “We wanted to give our staff the dignity that they deserve,” Carrie says regarding proper notice. No word yet on future tenants for the space, which the Steins lease in a neighborhood that is finally seeing a boom in development. Just down the street, a whole new customer base is being constructed inside a seven-story, 350 unit apartment building.

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