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The old Little Korea at Claiborne Avenue and Toledano Street will re-open later this year as a 24-hour doughnut and coffee shop.

Karim Taha, who co-owns Mona’s Café, the local group of Mediterranean restaurants, said he and a business partner had been eyeing the busy corner for a while. He aims to open City Donuts & Café by December at the earliest.

The restaurant will have a drive-through window and a menu focused on specialty doughnuts and coffee with some breakfast fare and sandwiches.

“We wanted the window for customers going to work,” Taha said. “They can drive by and grab a coffee and a doughnut.”

The location, a former Taco Bell, housed Little Korea until May 2016, when the restaurant moved to a larger location on Magazine Street.

Taha said interior renovations have already begun, and plans call for exterior upgrades as well, including new landscaping and removing the stucco arches that hint at the building’s fast food past. Sketches filed with the city replace the arches over the entryways with stucco parapet walls.

The restaurant will use the existing drive-through and driveway, which is on the South Claiborne Avenue side of the building.

“We want to give it a fresh look, to make it a little more modern,” Taha said.

Elevation drawings filed with the City of New Orleans show plans for the new City Donuts & Cafe on Claiborne Avenue. (City of New Orleans)

The restaurant is seeking city approval for a zoning change that would allow it to run its drive-through 24 hours a day. Current zoning requires the window to close at 8 p.m.

Taha said he is pushing to open the restaurant and the drive-through before Carnival season. He intends to sell fresh-baked king cakes in the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras.  

“People can place an order and pick it up at the window,” he said.http://www.nola.com/dining/index.ssf/2017/10/doughnut_shop_open_little_kore.html