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).