Irv’s Burgers will join Prince Street Pizza at The Park at Cross Creek to act as two new fast-casual dining options. Lawrence Longo, chief executive officer of Irv’s Burgers and Prince Street Pizza, said. As a preview, Irv’s Burgers hosted a Fourth of July pop-up in Malibu at the shopping center.
The two restaurants, Longo said, will be two separate restaurants operating in the same space. The restaurants were originally set to open in June, according to the Malibu Times, but Longo said they are now hoping to open in mid-August, with nothing set in stone.
Prince Street Pizza has seven other locations, five of which are in California. Irv’s Burgers has two other locations — in Santa Monica and West Hollywood.
“These are two restaurants for the masses,” Steve Soboroff, owner of the Park at Cross Creek, said. “For the students. For everybody. It’s not just for the millionaires.”
This includes dietary needs. Longo said Prince Street carries both gluten-free and vegan pizza crust and pizzas. At Irv’s there is a plant-based burger and a turkey burger.
Soboroff said the city has approved the plans for the two restaurants and construction is underway. The two restaurants, Soboroff said, are perfect “college-town restaurants,” that will be convenient for both Pepperdine and Santa Monica College students.
“It’s fun but it’s not a drive,” Soboroff said.
Longo said the two restaurants favor “premium flavors at affordable prices,” and “deliver happiness through their food.”
“They [the restaurants] will be an enormous success and fill an enormous hole in Malibu,” Soboroff said.
The restaurants, Longo said, will offer students fresh food at an accessible price.
“[The restaurants will be] just a really fun cool environment, a safe place where they [students] can go and have comfort food,” Longo said. “There’s nothing better than after a hard exam to grab a nice slice of pizza, or while you’re studying for the exam, having a burger and fries, maybe a soft-serve milkshake.”
Longo said Malibu is a community that appreciates quality food, and a community he wants to “integrate into.”
“A lot of restaurants are afraid of Malibu because they say it’s seasonal,” Longo said. “I believe that I was up for the challenge because I believe that I can connect with the local community and deliver them a premium fantastic product that the people in Malibu can be around year round.”
Additionally, Longo said he will also want to hire “good people” that live in the area — including students.
The restaurants, Soboroff said, will also be open later than many of the other offerings in Malibu. Prince Street Pizza’s other locations close at times ranging from 9:30 p.m. to 3:00 a.m., according to their website. Irv’s Burgers’ other locations close between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., according to their website.
“He’s [Longo’s] gonna do stuff you know, really, really geared towards being a part of your community,” Soboroff said. “Because your community stays up when other people are sleeping and uses his food to help them study or not study. So it’s a perfect college-town combo.”
Longo said one idea to appeal to students is offering outdoor movie nights at the Malibu location.
The restaurants, Soboroff said, will go across age lines — there are also plans for a playground, where children can pretend to work at Irv’s at the Malibu location.
“It’s for the kids, it’s for the parents, for their grandparents,” Soboroff said. “It’s for the students, it’s for date night, it’s for study night, it’s for you.”
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Contact Samantha Torre via Twitter (@Sam_t394) or email: sam.torre@pepperdine.edu
