Broken Spanish Comedor
One of the city’s most celebrated Mexican restaurants has returned in a new form.
Ray Garcia’s Broken Spanish, which closed in 2020, was a pillar of L.A.’s Alta California-cuisine movement. At his new Broken Spanish Comedor in Culver City, Garcia is reviving some of his signatures and serving a few new dishes even more personal to the chef.
“It was telling my story, telling the story of people like me,” Garcia said of the first Broken Spanish. “It is Mexican and Mexican American food through the lens of a third-generation Angeleno.
“In 2015,” he adds, “restaurants like this did not exist. Since then there have been, thankfully, a lot more restaurants like that.”
The first Broken Spanish iteration was called “ambitious” and “pretty great” by former L.A. Times Food critic Jonathan Gold, and placed in the paper’s list of the 101 Best Restaurants, as well as earning other accolades. In 2020, Garcia announced the closure on Instagram, saying he hoped it would only be temporary.
Five years later, the refried lentils, the chicharrón and the albondigas are back, as is the house nixtamalization process for heirloom, Mexico-grown corn used in Garcia’s tamales, tortillas, tostadas and even desserts, which feature a corn-cake take on tres leches and a chocolate torte crust made with masa.
Roasted mushroom tamal en cazuela with honey nut squash, spinach and salsa tatemada at Broken Spanish Comedor.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Garcia sees Broken Spanish Comedor as a more pared-down, “approachable” offshoot of the original with more comfortable touches: a riff on his mom’s enchiladas, for one, and another on his mom’s fideo. It’s a little lighter, a little more affordable, a little more homey.
“I knew I was going to reopen Broken Spanish, or at least that was always the plan,” Garcia said. “The idea of Broken Spanish has been living in the back of my mind … I have other restaurants and I’m proud of what they’re doing. I’m grateful for all of those opportunities, but I need to be in Los Angeles, and I need to be doing Broken Spanish again.”
In the intervening years, Garcia had launched two restaurants in the downtown nightlife complex Level 8, and helmed the recently closed Asterid at the base of Walt Disney Concert Hall. And in 2023, he reprised Broken Spanish’s sibling concept, B.S. Taqueria, in Las Vegas, where it continues.
But after years of being asked when he might reopen Broken Spanish in L.A., Garcia recently decided to take the leap. The restaurant’s original hospitality partner, Sprout Group, expressed interest in partnering again, and it had a space he could use: Culver City’s notable A-frame building, former home to an IHOP, Roy Choi’s A-Frame and, more recently, Jason Neroni’s Best Bet pizzeria.
Fideo verde, a new dish made with fennel, hoja santa, avocado and parmesan, at Broken Spanish Comedor.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
In roughly two months, they flipped the space and devised Comedor’s menu, including a beverage program featuring roughly 100 agave spirits and cocktails by former B.S. Taqueria and 71 Above bartender Genaro Garcia.
It could be the beginning of an L.A. comeback for the Broken Spanish brand. The chef hopes to reopen Broken Spanish in its more formal state someday, and in addition to the returning dishes at Comedor, Garcia said he’s regularly asked about a dozen others — including the famous churros from B.S. Taqueria. They will most likely return in one location or another. With Garcia, never say never.
“It’s always been the goal,” he said, “to establish and continue that dialogue of cooking, my food, here in my home city.”
Broken Spanish Comedor is open Tuesday to Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m. 12565 Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, brokenspanishcomedor.com
Super Peach’s orange-hued dining room also features bar seating with a view of the restaurant’s moving flipboard announcing specials and fun facts.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Super Peach
Celebrity chef David Chang’s Momofuku group first touched down in L.A. with Majordomo in 2018. In October, Chang followed up with Super Peach, serving an all-day menu of American staples cooked with Korean and pan-global style.
Located on the ground floor of the Westfield Century City mall, Super Peach offers a range of genre-bent culinary icons and mashups from a range of cultures, such as Korean kimbap packed with fried chicken, spicy tuna or Australian Wagyu; baby back ribs glazed in a soy barbecue sauce; sesame-tinged Caesar dressing; and a savory, limited-availability doughnut that oozes rich coconut curry.
Momofuku corporate chef Jude Parra-Sickels and Majordomo and Kato vet Nick Picciotto are leading the kitchen in Chang’s new project, where they’re cushioning seared salmon in bonito beurre blanc and glazing creamy-centered Japanese sweet potatoes with an almost brûlée-like crust.
Fried chicken kimbap at Super Peach.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The house cocktails are just as globe-trotting, with options such as red miso micheladas, Aperol peach spritzes, Italian-inflected palomas and jackfruit margaritas, offered alongside down-the-line classics such as negronis, Duke’s-style martinis and paper planes.
Super Peach seats roughly 200 guests across its dining room and patio, and is open Monday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
10250 Santa Monica Blvd., #1025, Los Angeles, momofuku.com/restaurants/super-peach
The vegan Utica Pie, made with plant-based mozzarella and parmesan, at Old Gold Tomato Pies.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Old Gold Tomato Pies
After years of pop-ups serving thick squares of Sicilian-style pizzas and a number of vegan options, Old Gold Tomato Pies just opened its first restaurant in Los Feliz.
Old Gold pizzeria owner Jeff Vance stands in the dining room of his long-planned restaurant.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Chef-owner Jeffrey Vance, an alum of Konbi as well as Seattle’s No Anchor and Spur Gastropub, is also serving farmers market salads and baked pasta alongside his fluffy square slices. Toppings include farmers market vegetables, anchovies, Baja clams, crème fraîche, lemon-zested ricotta, vegan mozzarella and more. Slices can get dunked into dipping sauces such as house-made tofu ranch.
The dough is not quite a sourdough crust, still bready but with a loose crumb, and fermented cold for 48 to 56 hours. The edges wind up golden brown and crunchy with a bit of chew — it’s not quite a Detroit style, but something adjacent.
“The thing I love about it is I find it nostalgic,” Vance said. “I’m a child of the ’80s, and Pizza Hut’s personal pan pizza was like my favorite thing of all time. I like to recreate something that touches that nostalgia.”
He started his pop-up out of a fixation on sourdough baking during the pandemic. Vance began with simple toppings during meals at home for himself and his wife, then graduated to parking lot pizza parties with friends. By late 2021, Vance was selling slices at pop-ups in local restaurants and bakeries.
A slice of Old Gold pizzeria’s vegan Moral High Ground, made with plant-based mozzarella, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, red onion and spinach.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
One of Old Gold’s first appearances was at Jen Yee’s plant-based bakery, Bakers Bench, when it was itself a pop-up residency in a Chinatown mall kiosk. In a nod to those early days, Old Gold’s restaurant now offers Yee’s vegan chocolate chip cookies, with more local-chef collaborations to follow.
After years in the punk and hardcore music communities, and having spent years as a vegan himself, Vance wanted to ensure he would always offer plant-based options at Old Gold; look for vegan slices and a plant-based Caesar with focaccia crumbles. For his meat and dairy products, he sources from farms that prioritize animal welfare.
Old Gold is open Sunday, Monday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., with more days of operation to follow.
4681 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, instagram.com/oldgoldla