Spot Check! Welcome to L.A. TACO’s latest column, where we bring you the latest and most exciting openings, pop-ups, finds, and food events around all of Los Angeles this week. Because the newer the spots, the downer the food...
Mariscos Za Za Zá, the backyard, daytime lunch spot from Loreto, is open in Frogtown. Guests can order chef Paco Moran's fresh seafood dishes at a walk-up window, including ceviche Tostilocos, swordfish al pastor, "Frogtown fries," Baja yellowtail tostadas, and shrimp-and-pasilla tacos costras on flour tortillas with gruyere and Oaxacan cheese.
1995 Blake Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90039. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 96 - “Riverside/Newell” or Bus Line 603 - "Riverside/Allesandro."
A wide variety of frozen and/or cured game meats are now available at Frozen Game, located within a Thousand Oaks ammunition store called The Copper Jacket. We're talking water buffalo and venison ground and in sausage form, wild boar bacon, elk jerky and elk chops, venison medallions, buffalo sirloin steaks, whole game hens, pheasant bratwurst, and many other fleet-footed creatures that were unable to outrun a gun.
812 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. Thousand Oaks, CA 91360. Closest Metro line and stop: Bus Line 161 - “Rancho/Thousand Oaks.”
Pigya opened this past Monday in Koreatown for an upscale pork and beef-based Korean barbecue experience, prepared and plated at your table by staff. Tasting menus include the pork-centric "Pigya" and a "bone-in short rib medley" available in limited quantities. A la carte cuts include wagyu beef tongue, prized fresh pork belly and collar, and large shrimp, while dishes include pork belly soondoobu, Wagyu carpaccio, and "hangover ramen."
3400 W. 8th St Los Angeles, CA 90005. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 66 - “8th/Harvard” or Bus Line 206 - "Irolo/8th."
Era Grill is a Uzbek-run, Halal food truck offering plov (pilaf), available studded with quail eggs, whole garlic cloves, and chickpeas, and grilled chicken or braised beef, plus samsa meat pies, soup, and other Central Asian dishes, along with shawarma and doner kebab wraps.
505 N. Figueroa St. Los Angeles, CA 90012. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 4, 55 or 60 - “Sunset/Figueroa.”
Philly boys Eric Wareheim and Joe Beddia are popping up at Animal on Fairfax this Saturday with a hoagie-strapped wine bar called p.s. Hoagie. The $12 ticket price includes a hoagie and access to an a la carte menu, plus wines picked by the two dudes, and poured by John Cerasulo of Anajak Thai and Helen Johannesen.
435 N. Fairfax Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 217 or 218 - “Fairfax/Rosewood.”
Speaking of East Coast-y sandwiches, ButterFace is a new DM shop that just had its first event in Hancock Park, in which it offered a meatball sandwich with Jersey tomato Sunday gravy, basil, mozzarella, and shaved Parmesan on a garlic bread Philly roll. Look out for whatever it does next.
Tres Mezcalitos is a weekend stand on Venice Boulevard in Mid-City offering a changing roster of Oaxacan recipes such as chicken albondigas en sopa verde, memelas con asiento, blanditas with quesillo, tasajo, and chorizo, mole negro, and empanadas de mole amarillo.
5518 Venice Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90019. Closest Metro line and stop: Bus Line 33 - “Venice/Hauser.”
The Agave Library opens Saturday, May 20, at Sendero atop Downtown's The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles. The third of four concepts to open under chef Kevin Luzande here, the Agave Library will find him preparing a $395 multi-course tasting menu centered on premium mezcal, including Tequilas and other agave-based spirits for only 12 guests per night. Summer's first tasting menu will pair tastes of Clase Azul's Tequila with dishes inspired by Jalisco, such as pork confit tortas ahogadas, smoked lamb pastor, and spot prawn embarazados. Reservations on OpenTable.
900 W. Olympic Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90015. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 28 - “Olympic/Georgia" or Metro J Line (910/950) and Bus Line 81 - "Figueroa/Olympic."
Topanga Social, a new food hall, is now open at Westfield in Canoga Park with a VIP roster of 27 fast casual, L.A.-originated culinary concepts, including I Love Micheladas, Slab, Amboy, Mini Kebab, Burrata House, Primo's Donuts, and Tail O' the Pup.
6600 Topanga Canyon Blvd. #1m Canoga Park, CA 91303. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 150, 164 or 169 - "Victory/Topanga Canyon" or Bus Line 601 - “Owensmouth/Canyon Creek.”
San Diego's plant-based restaurant Donna Jean is now open in Sherman Oaks. For brunch, you'll find chicken-fried oyster mushrooms, fenel sausage-spiced tempeh lasagna with tomato beurre blanc, a pizza named for a White Zombie tune, and pastries. Come dinnertime, it's smoked cheddar cast-iron mac-and-cheese, raviolo cacio e pepe, and chef Roy Elam's pistachio cheesecake.
4720 Woodman Ave. Sherman Oaks, CA 91423. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 155 or 158 - “Woodman/Riverside.”
Guisados and Timeless Vapes are rallying together at the taqueria's Beverly Hills location this Sunday, May 21st, for its third annual "G’s on Sunday," a public gathering of classic Porsches, cuisine, and cannabis. A portion of merch proceeds (including the above event-specific vaporizer flip case and battery) goes to No Us Without You. Porsche owners wanting to get involved can sign up here. Everyone else can just show up.
8-11am, 120 S Linden Dr. Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 20 - “Wilshire/Linden” or Bus Lines 4 and 720 - "Wilshire/Santa Monica."
