Bill Esparza

1 month ago | la.eater.com | Bill Esparza

For White Lotus actress, Blackpink member, and Coachella headliner Lisa (also known as Lalisa), a recent pre-festival stay in Los Angeles meant also heading to the city’s famed Thai Town. The section of Hollywood known as “Thailand’s 77th province” by the Thai Chamber of Commerce beckoned with the spicy, sour, and tangy flavors she grew up with in Thailand’s northeast Buriram Province. Her choice, chef Phitwasuphon “Ple” Thanaporn’s restaurant Mesa Thai, is known for its fiery Isan cuisine.

1 month ago | la.eater.com | Bill Esparza

One of Los Angeles’s most talented seafood specialists, chef Fransisco Leal, who helped develop the menu at Del Mar Ostioneria truck, is back on the street, preparing Sinaloan-style shellfish and seafood towers at a stand he calls Mariscos Chiltepín. Back in September 2019, Leal set up his mariscos shop with a few tables, chairs, and an ice chest along one of the desolate streets lined with warehouses in the city of Vernon.

1 month ago | la.eater.com | Bill Esparza

Erwin Recinos Mariscos Los Corchos is opening a dedicated pescado zarandeado trailer, perhaps the first of its kind in Southern California. The new rig has emerged after several setbacks, which included the shutdown of chef Anthony Plascencia’s successful backyard mariscos restaurant by the city of Rialto’s Code Enforcement office and a too-brief run at Smorgasburg.

2 months ago | la.eater.com | Bill Esparza

A new destination for South American cuisine has arrived in Los Angeles from restaurateur Henrique Huyer, who previously worked at Fogo de Chão for nine years, before opening H&H Brazilian Steakhouse in the former B. S. Taquería space in 2019. Casa Ipanema, which Huyer opened with his wife Herica on February 21 inside the historic Millennium Biltmore Hotel, serves a menu of Rio de Janeiro-style “fusion” in a space that would feel at home on a Brazilian beach.

2 months ago | la.eater.com | Bill Esparza

On February 28, the Gallery in Downtown Los Angeles went live with its “Elementa” dining experience, a menu set to an interactive, multi-sensory show designed by Mousetrappe Media. The Gallery is a venture between Darin Ulmer and Chuck Fawcett, a team of theme park industry veterans, and Joshua Whigham, a protegé of José Andres who took over the chef de cuisine role at the Bazaar in 2009.