First Petrossian at Tiffany Restaurant Opens at South Coast Plaza

Things are moving and shaking at South Coast Plaza, the Costa Mesa, Calif.-based, family-owned shopping center that is marking its 55th anniversary this year.

Fine dining options are expanding, following marquee dining spot Knife Pleat receiving a Michelin star last fall.

Tiffany & Co., which opened its new South Coast flagship in November 2020, has switched gears, replacing its Blue Box Cafe with a Petrossian caviar restaurant.

Petrossian at Tiffany, the first co-branded restaurant for the luxury brand, opened March 25.

A completely transformed restaurant with a menu exclusive to Tiffany, the five-star dining experience will feature a Champagne- and caviar-inspired menu. Menu highlights include: a Tiffany Caviar Tasting featuring the finest selections of Transmontanus, Shassetra, Ossetra and Kaluga Caviar paired with a Tiffany Caviartini, the signature cocktail of Petrossian at Tiffany.

Petrossian was founded in Paris in 1920 by brothers Melkoum and Mouchegh Petrossian and is still family-owned. The restaurant at South Coast will be in residence for two years.

The shopping center has lots of upcoming news in the luxury fashion space, too.

On Thursday, Hermès will celebrate the grand opening of its 7,100-square-foot store with a dinner for 300 clients and VIPs amid classic cars in a venue adjacent to the center. The boutique is nearly two times the size of the original, marking the French brand’s 25-year relationship with South Coast Plaza.

“One of the reasons for our success is we continue to evolve our store collection,” said Debra Gunn Downing, executive director of marketing for South Coast Plaza, at a media dinner Tuesday night. “Dior is building an expanded store in the old Hermès spot. Louis Vuitton is building a dedicated men’s store opening later this summer.…And Chanel is opening a second boutique this week,” she said.

The center’s jewelry collection is evolving, too, with seven boutiques new or in process — Audemars Piguet, Buccellati, Tudor, Hublot, Roger Dubuis, Breitling and Tag Heuer.

The center’s Jewel Court has become a popular venue for brand exhibitions and activations; Alexander McQueen has its “London Skies” collection on display now in the space, which is booked by brands for the next 12 months, with Gucci coming in June, among others.

Come fall, South Coast Plaza will continue its history of nurturing the arts with a gala opening of the Orange County Museum of Art’s new Thom Mayne-designed building. It’s the cornerstone of the vision of a Segerstrom Center for the Arts encompassing performance and visual arts, which was spearheaded by the late retail pioneer and philanthropist Henry Segerstrom.

While the family patriarch passed away in 2015, he’s still a force in the ever-growing family business in spirit.

“A funny story, at our 45th celebration at the Hotel Bel-Air, Henry Segerstrom was with us and made remarks,” remembered Gunn Downing. “A highlight was to tell everyone we’d reached $1 billion in sales, a figure we’d been chasing for years. It took 45 years to get to $1 billion and last year we reached $2.2 billion. I think $3 billion cannot be too far behind.”

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