“Bar A Tí is a mini-dream come true,” chef Andrew Ponce tells L.A. TACO while finalizing the small 7-10 dish menu at his new Echo Park taqueria, which is set to open Wednesday, September 25th.
The Mexican American chef, born and raised in Los Angeles, was the chef de cuisine at Bestia for years before launching A Tí, his pop-up that served creative cooking out of the backyard of a pasta restaurant in West Adams, earlier this year.
Ponce uses the term “mini-dream” because the opening of his modern Mexican concept in a brick-and-mortar space will be a five-week trial.
“I’m excited, nervous, and confident all at the same time,” he says.
Ponce put his aspirations out in the universe back in April, telling us he hoped to open a brick-and-mortar model “like Taco Maria” one day. One that serves ceviches and tacos with an emphasis on accessibility. “
The last thing I want to do is make my abuelitas feel like they are not welcome or can’t afford my food,” he told L.A. TACO in April.
Five months later, he’s getting a shot at precisely what he asked for. And more. Ponce will also have the bonus of opening with a full liquor license, all within stumbling distance of Dodger Stadium, just in time for the postseason. David Fernie, who made his name selling sandwiches at E Stretto, will be in charge of Bar A Tí’s cocktail menu.
The chef’s dinner menu will include hits from his pop-up: tostadas topped in akamai (lean bluefin tuna) with lemon aioli, salsa negra made with Turkish Urfa biber chiles, confit duck legs in a complex, date-based mole, and his customer favorite, Hokkaido scallop tostada, and koji-cured fish tacos.
But he will also introduce new beverages like a Michelada garnished with house-pickled mussels, a dish of spicy grilled prawns, and a tamal for dessert. Ponce proudly calls his approach to modern antojitos, “L.A.-style.”
“When people ask me, ‘What kind of Mexican food are my dishes?’ I tell them, ‘It’s L.A. Mexican food,’” Ponce declares. “I get all my inspiration from my city and want to represent that. I cook what I like to eat.”
He also supports Kernel of Truth Organic’s American-grown blue corn masa and tortillas, nixtamalized in Boyle Heights.
Bar A Tí joins a now-stacked intersection of Echo Park that also counts Quarter Sheets, Donna’s, and the forthcoming Echo Park location of Monkish Brewing Co. among its assets.
Bar A Tí opens at 5 PM on Wednesday, September 25th, at 1498 W Sunset Blvd #2, Los Angeles, CA 90026. It will be open from 5 PM to “late” on Wednesdays to Sundays.
