What to Know
- The Miramar To-Go Truck will be on-site selling eats. One meal will be donated to Para Los Niños for each meal sold.
- May 16 from noon to 8 p.m.
- The Grove is temporarily closed but curbside concierge service is available for shoppers, restaurants are offering takeout/delivery, and the public may walk through and see the fountains, observing distancing guidelines
The much-photographed Main Street that runs through the middle of The Grove, the outdoor shopping mall located near Third & Fairfax?
It's a short and wide road that has been, in the past, primarily occupied by people strolling towards The Grove's shops and restaurants on foot.
And if a vehicle did pass through, it was always the destination's forest-green trolley, a festive symbol of the shopping center.
The lane is large enough for the large trolley, meaning a car could comfortably roll along the same length of asphalt. But vehicles are not permitted to pass through The Grove, which has gained a far-and-wide reputation as a haven for pedestrians.
That is going to change, for one day only, on May 16, when Caruso, the company behind The Grove, becomes a pop-up drive-thru experience.
The 18-year-old shopping center is opening its Main Street to cars, all to help raise money for Para Los Niños, the "...Skid Row-based nonprofit that provides education and wraparound support to over 6,000 of the county’s most vulnerable children and families each year."
Entry will be at the Valet Circle, on the east side of The Grove, near The Gap.
Miramar To-Go, the Rosewood Miramar Beach food truck, will depart its Montecito home for the day, all to set up shop at one end of Main Street where it can bring some of the hotel's delicious vittles to the public.
Caruso will donate a meal to Para Los Niños for every meal sold during the one-day-only event.
Whatever goodies you end up buying, know that you'll be sending some love to a wonderful organization. The event's ultimate goal? To "feed over 2,500 families in need."
What can you expect to see on the menu?
Tacos, fried chicken sandwiches, salads, and ice cream sandwiches will be among some of the items for sale.
There are kids' meals, too, and beverages from Icelandic Glacial, Caruso's "official water partner."
Even if you go with an eat that is your tried-and-true nosh, you'll surely never have a drive-thru food experience as over-the-top, and distinctly Grove-y, as the one you'll find at the mid-city shopping destination's Main Street on May 16.
