{"id":120685,"date":"2026-01-05T11:34:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T11:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/120685\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T11:34:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T11:34:28","slug":"one-of-l-a-s-best-restaurants-is-back-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/120685\/","title":{"rendered":"One of L.A.’s best restaurants is back open"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The first reservation you need to make in 2026 isn\u2019t for the splashy L.A. version of an Italian restaurant from New York City. Or the debut of another restaurant from a celebrity chef. It\u2019s for the reopening (sort of) of B\u00e4co Mercat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 19, Josef Centeno closed the doors of Bar Am\u00e1<\/a>, his Tex-Mex-leaning restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, and reopened the next evening as Le Dr\u00e4q by Bar Am\u00e1 and B\u00e4co Mercat. The restaurant is a hybrid of Bar Am\u00e1 and Takoria, the self-described bizarro taqueria that Centeno debuted out of the space earlier this year. And the return of B\u00e4co Mercat, a restaurant the chef closed <\/a>in the thick of the pandemic in 2020. <\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The new signage at Le Dr\u00e4q in downtown L.A. <\/p>\n

(Josef Centeno)<\/p>\n

\u201cB\u00e4co just kind of stopped during COVID,\u201d says Centeno. \u201cI don\u2019t feel like I had finished what I started there and I\u2019ve been trying to figure out the best way to bring it back without feeling like I was trying to repeat something.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s difficult to quantify the influence Centeno has had on the city\u2019s dining scene, or the contributions he made to what was once the great revitalization of downtown Los Angeles<\/a>. At one point, the chef commanded the corner of 4th and Main streets with a cluster of restaurants this paper once dubbed the \u201cCentenoplex.\u201d<\/a> At its heart was the petite, always bustling B\u00e4co Mercat. <\/p>\n

Opened in 2011, it was a place built around the b\u00e4co, a Centeno creation that was a soft, supple flatbread that blistered like a flour tortilla, with the thickness and chew of good naan. But the restaurant was so much more than flatbread sandwiches. Ricotta cavatelli with pork belly and soujouk. Chicken \u201cribs\u201d doused in chile vinegar. Catalan-style cocas lavished with chicken escabeche, zhoug and spiced labneh. Centeno introduced Angelenos to a cuisine fueled by a smart, thoughtful and consistently bold oscillation of cultural influences. <\/p>\n

It was everything he grew up eating, everything he ate on his travels and everything and everyone that represents Los Angeles, on a plate. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have been pretty continually asking for [B\u00e4co Mercat], so it was also just listening to people,\u201d says Centeno. \u201cI don\u2019t consider this a reboot; it\u2019s more of a continuation kind of phoenix rising from the ashes sort of thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

The new restaurant name stems from the Catalan word \u201cdrac.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Josef <\/p>\n

Josef Centeno poses for a photo at his fine dining restaurant Orsa & Winston in downtown L.A. <\/p>\n

(Silvia Razgova \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means shapeshifter, or like Dracula,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

Centeno took creative license with the word, settling on the name Le Dr\u00e4q. The logo, which resembles a three-headed dragon, grew out of an image Centeno created of his dogs Bear and Winston (for which his adjacent fine dining restaurant Orsa & Winston<\/a> is named), and their cousin Cash. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor some reason, a chimera came into my visualization and those three are like the hungriest beasts,\u201d he says. \u201cThe three heads represent Bear, Winston and Cash, but it also represents B\u00e4co, Am\u00e1 and Takoria.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cheesy <\/p>\n

Cheesy b\u00e4co bread from Le Dr\u00e4q in downtown L.A. <\/p>\n

(Josef Centeno)<\/p>\n

The two-sided menu mimics the two sides of a record, with the A-side devoted to re-imagined favorites from both B\u00e4co Mercat and Bar Am\u00e1. The b\u00e4co returns as a cheese-infused flatbread, with Centeno folding shredded Oaxacan string cheese into the bread dough. It\u2019s even softer than the original, and wonderfully chewy. He folds it around breaded and fried shrimp, fava bean fritters, oxtail or Wagyu short rib. <\/p>\n

The coca 2.0 is still under development, but at the moment is made with a vegan dough. The impossibly slender, cracker-like crust is in the running for the best bar-style pizza in town. The mushroom coca incorporates dehydrated shiitake mushrooms, yuzu kosho and a cream reduction spiked with dashi. It\u2019s drizzled with anchovy juice before service for an extra blast of umami. <\/p>\n

If you miss the B\u00e4co Mercat Caesar Brussels sprouts, or B\u00e4zole (Centeno\u2019s take on a pozole), they are all here, alongside Bar Am\u00e1 favorites like the green chicken enchiladas and nacho towers of hot, fresh chips with golden queso that cascades down the sides. <\/p>\n

The B-side of the menu is all Takoria, with a market-driven list of more vegetable-forward items that will change frequently. Recently there was a persimmon salad with kale; roasted acorn squash with dry tepin salsa and agnolotti filled with chestnuts. <\/p>\n

\"Mushroom <\/p>\n

Mushroom coca from Le Dr\u00e4q in downtown L.A. The flatbread comes with fontina, mushrooms and a drizzle of anchovy oil. <\/p>\n

(Jenn Harris \/ Los Angeles Times )<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be like a shuffle playlist,\u201d says Centeno. \u201cI didn\u2019t want the menu to be so overwhelming, but we\u2019ve already started getting requests for dishes we used to make like the poblano and grape soup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diners can expect around eight dishes from B\u00e4co Mercat, eight from Bar Am\u00e1 and another eight from Takoria. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe food reflects new experiences, new ingredients I\u2019ve learned about, new techniques and how I\u2019ve grown or gained more balance,\u201d says Centeno. \u201cThe way I eat now is completely different than how I ate 10 years ago.\u201d <\/p>\n

For a while, there was no red meat on the menu at Bar Am\u00e1. Centeno has made the decision to stop serving octopus and pork, but beef is integral to the Le Dr\u00e4q menu, and to the restaurant\u2019s new burger. <\/p>\n

\"Le <\/p>\n

Le Dr\u00e4q burger from Le Dr\u00e4q in downtown L.A. The burger is served on house-made milkbread with green peppercorn mustard, tartar thousand island sauce, Havarti cheese and a side of dill Kennebec potato fries. <\/p>\n

(Jenn Harris \/ Los Angeles Times )<\/p>\n

Centeno\u2019s father was a butcher, and the Le Dr\u00e4q burger starts with his father\u2019s percentages of chuck, sirloin and other cuts of beef. It\u2019s a thick cheeseburger covered in Havarti cheese, with juices that run wild when you take a bite. Centeno dresses the burger with a slab of iceberg lettuce for crunch, raw red onion and both a whole grain mustard with green peppercorn and a tartar thousand island sauce. <\/p>\n

The burger is built on a bun made from the same pillow-soft milk bread Centeno serves next door at Orsa & Winston. <\/p>\n

For the last several weeks, Centeno has been making changes to the interior of the restaurant. He fixed the audio system so that the sounds of the Smiths, Twisted Sister, Jeff Buckley and Wilco will create a genre-flowing soundtrack throughout your meal. A B\u00e4co Mercat sign now sits near the rear of the restaurant while you\u2019ll find Bar Am\u00e1 signage near the large mirror in the dining room. Centeno went through 10 different variations of teal paint before blending his own color to match the blue on the walls at B\u00e4co Mercat. <\/p>\n

\"B\u00e4zole <\/p>\n

B\u00e4zole with house-made noodles, oxtail, chicken chicharron and harissa shoyu egg from Le Dr\u00e4q. <\/p>\n

(Josef Centeno)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was trying to re-create the feeling of B\u00e4co, but still have the Am\u00e1 thread, so it felt like B\u00e4co again because it had a certain feel that people really liked,\u201d he says. \u201cDifferent enough but familiar, which I guess is the way I cook. You wouldn\u2019t have necessarily thought of this combo, but it works and it\u2019s familiar.\u201d <\/p>\n

Centeno plans to eventually open Le Dr\u00e4q for lunch and brunch service. To feast on a shrimp b\u00e4co for lunch again with a side of Caesar Brussels sprouts? The new year is looking brighter already. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first reservation you need to make in 2026 isn\u2019t for the splashy L.A. version of an Italian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[63565,63566,16725,63563,22590,63572,63564,48,52,51,63567,47,50,49,63,63571,1435,63569,63570,63568,72],"class_list":["post-120685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-baco-mercat","tag-bar-ama","tag-celebrity-chef","tag-centeno","tag-chicken","tag-dog-bear","tag-good-restaurant","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-le-draq","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-new-burger","tag-side","tag-takoria","tag-two-sided-menu","tag-winston","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}