Makes sense since Sprout owns the building and Ray Garcia was working with them at the Rose. Looking forward to having it in the neighborhood.
Me too. Great to have that Chicharron local.
It’s basically a downscale version of the prior iterations of Broken Spanish. The food tastes about the same, but the menu is less ambitious. There is no wine list other than what you see online (wines by the glass), and the huge mezcal list is a thing of the past. But if you liked the food before, you’ll like it now too. We both like it.
How busy was it?
any must get besides the Chicharron?
The restaurant was full at 8 pm. You definitely need a reservation for peak times, as the bar / lounge is small.
My favorite Broken Spanish dish is the refried lentils with tortillas. I wouldn’t necessarily call it “must order” if that’s not your thing.
For comparison: We both like the food at Broken Spanish more than the food at Damian. I would choose Damian as better overall restaurant due to every other factor, whereas Peony would choose Broken Spanish.
What are the first three dishes?
Trout. Pretty good. The sauce was too strong for the delicately flavored fish (think rainbow trout not ocean trout), but otherwise good
Roasted chicken thighs. Pretty good. I didn’t love the intrinsic flavor of the chicken thighs themselves for some reason (strong gamey), but otherwise no complaints.
Camotes (sweet potato). Best of the three. I really liked the texture and depth of flavor of the sweet potato itself, and salsa matcha complements it well.
The duck albondigas with bacon, chipotle, and nopales are excellent, with a good heat that supports the other elements without overwhelming them. Get a half order of the house made blue corn tortillas to go with them.
I agree, this was a great dish, and I liked the heat many of the dishes came with but still balancing out the other flavors. The habanero in the ceviche really came through but despite that the carrot flavor in the habanero really complimented the heat well. I also enjoyed the tortillas.
Other dishes we enjoyed besides the albondigas and ceviche: coal roasted japanese sweet potato, chicken and leek enchiladas, tamal
Dishes with mixed reviews: fideo verde, the barbacoa (most said that it had too much fat for their liking, I didn’t mind it as much)
I’m not running to go back but I enjoyed our dinner at Broken Spanish - they were packed and things were moving pretty well despite losing service because of the storm and being open for less than a month
Excellent meal Saturday. I missed Broken Spanish and Comedor fills that void. I was always impressed at the depth of flavor chef gets in his dishes, particularly the sauces. Albondigas, ceviche and camote were great with really nicely balanced flavors. Enchiladas and refried lentils were equally good. Chef definitely isn’t afraid of the heat, so if you’re sensitive to chile heat, be forewarned. Probably the best margarita I’ve had in some time. I can’t wait to return for more.
Likewise we were there Saturday - great food and drinks. Ceviche had a bit much heat for my taste but the rest was perfect. Tostada was great, as were tamal, and chicken thighs with mole. Refried lentils were such a hit with our group we ordered 2!
Great to have him back!
Maybe they updated, but there was a huge Mezcal and other agave distillate list when I went last week. Some pretty good stuff from the usual suspects like Jolgorio, Mal Bien, Cinco Sentidos etc. Have to ask for it though.
Nice meal overall: ceviche, sweet potato, lamb neck, chicharron, refried lentils. Annoying to be that guy but prefer the Gabriela Camara bone marrow salsa macha sweet potato but otherwise agree about the ambition and overall quality. If this were in my neighborhood I’d eat here every few months.
IMHO, best margarita I’ve had in LA. Chef definitely likes the spice. We have loved all the dishes, not a dud so far after 4 visits. Bangin HH too!
had my rehearsal dinner at the long dead BS Taqueria and the kitchen kindly made separate plates with less heat for my 93 year old Nebraska born grandmother hahaha