Joe Downtown: Owner of Eat hungry for new venture

By Joe Schoenmann

Tuesday, June 25, 2013 | 1:17 p.m.

Natalie Young is one happy downtown restaurant owner these days.

Her restaurant, Eat, at the corner of Seventh Street and Carson Avenue, has done so well, she said, she plans to open another within the next 12 months.

Young said the new restaurant's working name was “White Bread.” It will feature late-night food, including fried chicken. She wants to open it kitty-corner from Eat on the northwest section of the Carson-Seventh Street intersection.

“I’ve proven myself with Eat,” she said.

Young also said Eat, the first small-business investment of Downtown Project, the multitargeted redevelopment agency whose partners include Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, was just months away from paying off its portion of a loan taken to create the restaurant.

If Young's timetable for opening another restaurant holds true, she will be competing with others scheduled to open in the Downtown Container Park, which is quickly coming together directly across the street from Eat.

The Container Park is expected to have five restaurants and/or bars, plus other walk-up eateries. Operators hope to open it before the Life Is Beautiful festival that will extend over two days this fall, Oct. 26 and 27.

Joe Schoenmann doesn’t just cover downtown, he lives and works there. Schoenmann is Greenspun Media Group’s embedded downtown journalist, working from an office in the Emergency Arts building.