Skip to Content
Food

Major Mexico City Restaurant Group Is Opening a Two-Story Taquería + Restaurant Featuring Escamoles and Birria…at the Grove

Grupo Hunan, a major player in Mexico’s fine-dining corporate restaurant world, is bringing its next concept to The Grove next month.

The company, which owns 25 restaurants in Mexico, is preparing to open a two-story restaurant called Alma in the spaces formerly occupied by Cronut-creator Dominique Ansel’s bakery and 189 restaurant. Alma’s forthcoming debut marks the group’s first foray into U.S. restaurants.

On the ground floor, Alma will house a combination taquería, cocktail bar, and market that will open this December. Following the arrival of the new year, a full-service Mexican restaurant with a coastal design scheme will occupy the second floor, focused on a fine-dining experience.

Details on the menu so far remain slim, but press reps note that there will be tacos al pastor, birria, and the edible ant larvae delicacy known as escamoles. This may suggest a possible D.F.-focus for a group that had its start in Mexico City in 1993 with the opening of Hunan, described on the Grupo Hunan website as the city’s “first Chinese restaurant.”

The shiny, slick, fountain-adjacent Grove location may not immediately fill local taco-hunters with the same visions of Mex-cellence as say, a mariscos-heavy Inglewood backyard, concrete barbacoa-pit in a Compton garage, or downtown alley ruled by a sobaquera specialist. Especially considering the most recent Mexican food addition to the adjacent Original Farmer’s Market started out by serving us basic flour tortilla quesadillas listed as “tlayudas” on the menu. (pause to bang head on desk).

However, Ansel’s now-shuttered restaurant was notably good, earning just accolades from Jonathan Gold and an ensuing position on the L.A. Times 101 List, despite the many snob-lobed sneers over its mall setting and Cronut-hungry tourist hordes.

Across the way, Blue Ribbon’s sushi is reliably stellar, no less on the fried chicken tip. At the Original Farmers Market, Rick Dominguez’s Rick’s Produce Market to its was recently added to their solid roster of tenants, a handful of which have been operating there for over 87 years.

Hunan’s portfolio counts 24 restaurant locations in Mexico City and one in Cabo San Lucas, many of them replicated as their own distinctive brands under the direction of talented kitchens and staff focused on upscale experiences and service.

These include numerous locations of the resurrected Guadiana, Argentine-Mexican steakhouse Sylvestre, Italian concepts Tavola Prosecco Rustica and Negroni, Mediterranean Lampuga, and modern Mexican Nueve Nueve located within the Roma neighborhood’s historic Casa Lamm cultural center. The company has also opened two Nobu concepts in Mexico.

Despite its size, Grupo Hunan is a family-owned affair, like so many of our favorite Mexican eateries. Founded by Pepe Cuaik in 1993, Grupo Hunan also has its own design studio, Cuiak, whose website shows construction action shots and elegant renderings of the Alma space. The restaurant itself will exist under the oversight of siblings Pepe, Diego, Santiago, and Teresa Cuaik. And guess what? They’re hiring.

Overall, the company’s strong reputation, professional imagery, sharp design, and forays into regional cuisine suggest the level of operator that should fit perfectly into Rick Caruso’s well-staged mall concept.

In any case, we're for sure looking forward to eating escamoles and al pastor before frolicking at The Grove's seasonal [fake] snow in many winter wonderlands to come.

Alma~ 189 The Grove Dr. Suite H-4, Los Angeles, CA 90036

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from L.A. TACO

$32 Million In Two Weeks: The Cost Of Responding To Anti-ICE Protests In The City of L.A.

“The federal government's violent ICE raids are tearing families apart, causing fear in our communities, and making the city of L.A. even more broke,” Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia wrote on Instagram.

June 20, 2025

Black Lives Matter Leader Reflects On L.A.’s Anti-ICE Protests, Five Years After George Floyd

Baba Akili sees no end to the anti-ICE protests that started two weeks ago.

June 20, 2025

L.A. TACO Mix Series: Summer 2025 by EL KEAMO

As the heat rises and ice melts, here we gather a set of sounds which bend the preconceived notion of what a cumbia sounds and looks like.

June 20, 2025

Safety Concerns For People and Animals Arise as LAPD Officers on Horseback Swarm L.A. Protestors

Despite the dangers to both animals and humans, LAPD’s Mounted Platoon officers are required to receive only four weeks of equestrian training, as well as an additional week out in the field.

June 20, 2025

Weekend Eats: A Venice ‘Food Fight’ Fundraiser at the Beach, a New Puerto Rican Spot, and a Pop-Up Mercado United for Immigrants

It's dark times out there, but here is how restaurants are stepping up to help. Plus, a couple of new spots worth trying.

June 20, 2025

Tom Morello Unites B Real, Pussy Riot, K. Flay and More to “Defend L.A.” at The Echoplex

Morello brought out all the artists at the end to sing along together to "This Land is Your Land," encouraging everyone to continue to defend L.A. and not back down in the face of state repression.

June 20, 2025
See all posts