Bar Amá

, revolving around carne asada, quesadillas in various configurations and guisados-filled chivichangas. — P.I.E. 208 E. 8th St., Los Angeles, CA 90014, sonoratown.com 7. Centenoplex (Orsa & Winston, Bar Amá, Bäco Mercat) Orsa & Winston is a 32-seat tasting

-menu restaurant that merges Italian and Japanese cuisines, a gambit that rarely succeeds. It does here. Bar Amá is the California embassy for Tex-Mex cuisine, where queso, cheddary enchiladas and picadillo-stuffed peppers receive the noble rendering

Sonoratown    Orsa & Winston    Bar Amá    Bäco Mercat    Hayato    Bavel    Rossoblu    Grand Central Market    Bon Temps    Bestia    Broken Spanish    Shibumi    Q    Nightshade    The Exchange    Little Sister    Badmaash   

culinary level, complexity has always defined his career. No one cuisine or style can express his hyperdrive creativity; his bio includes the poshest tasting menu settings as well as hidden barebone pubs. He runs four restaurants. Bar Amá downtown and

Amacita in Culver City channel the Tex-Mex heritage of Centeno’s native San Antonio. The cooking at Bäco Mercat in DTLA begins in the Mediterranean regions before pingponging around the globe. Then there is Orsa & Winston, which opened next door to Bar Amá

fermented fish paste, herbs, mushrooms and toasted rice powder from Khemla. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) Phert Em, previously general manager of Bar Amá, originally called her pop-ups “L.A. Cambodian food,” adapting Khmer dishes she learned from her

with peanut, garlic and bagoong (fermented seafood paste). This winter Josef Centeno ran a special of oxtail birria at Bar Amá. Everything about it — its glow, its chile fire, its hearty oomph — had me seeing red in the best possible way. I knew what

/hannahziskin Khemla Phert Em, previously general manager of Bar Amá, originally called her pop-ups “L.A. Cambodian food,” adapting Khmer dishes she learned from her family to her own taste and experience. Em has continued to push herself to conceive weekly

over-romanticize their presence. The autonomy of crafting one’s own dishes outside of traditional kitchen hierarchy can be freeing. Phert Em, the previous manager of downtown’s Bar Amá who evolved her tasting menu pop-up, Khemla, into a pandemic-era

respectfully finding his own ways forward with the border cuisine. Enchiladas, chalupas, carne guisada and other expressions of his hometown foodways, with specific nods to his mother and grandmother, have been on delicious display at downtown’s Bar Amá since

for a quick meal option. BäcoShop lasted two years. In July, Centeno rechristened the place Amá•cita, applying a fresh coat of paint, swapping in plusher chairs and hanging colorful banners of papel picado. Bar Amá is California’s embassy for Tex-Mex

Heights. (Bill Addison/Los Angeles Times) Sand dab tacos from Bar Amá. I’m always scanning the takeout menus for Josef Centeno’s restaurants to see what he’s freshly concocted. Pacific sand dabs are a sustainable fish we should see more of; Centeno serves

Josef Centeno is one of the chefs I admire most in Los Angeles. The owner of four restaurants — Bäco Mercat, Orsa & Winston and Bar Amá downtown, and Amacita in Culver City — he’s the kind of leader I’d nominate for a chef of the year award. On

region’s most popular restaurants — Alimento, n/naka, Ronan, Birdie G’s, Cassia, Lawry’s the Prime Rib and Sonoratown among them — takeout will remain the status quo for a while. Calling the latest developments “head-spinning,” Bar Amá chef-owner Josef