Mercado La Paloma’s restaurant Komal will take a bold step in its business plan this fall. After charming Southern California with a dedication to pre-Hispanic indigenous Mexican cuisine in 2024 (and earning Eater L.A.’s Best Community Restaurant nod
in 2025), chef Fátima Juárez will debut a weekly eight-course tasting menu on October 19 that traces stories of heirloom corn and how Juárez and her team work with it. This is deeply personal cooking, and Los Angeles is an optimal setting for Komal’s new direction.
A steady stream of customers already loved Juárez’s interpretations of street food she grew up eating — antojitos, quesadillas, and a sweet corn cake aka pan de elote — as well as her handmade tortillas. The masa to make them comes from Komal’s molino, where Juárez’s team takes indigenous corn sourced directly from farmers in Mexico and nixtamalizes it, softening it in an alkaline solution before milling. But even as a new mother, she felt compelled to push further. Attempting to stay current during a challenging time for restaurants, she wants to invite diners into her process as a chef and food historian.
“This all started by necessity,” says Juárez, adding that her family depends on Komal’s success. “Was I capable of doing this? I questioned myself. But Komal is growing up. I worked on this menu for seven months. I’m very proud of my team. We put a lot of love into this presentation of Mexican corn and this project.”
Juárez also wants to connect more meaningfully with her customers. “When we started Komal two years ago, I’m not sure people received or understood all of the dishes,” she says. Some expressed confusion around the nixtamalization process and different tortilla colors. On the new tasting menu, every dish, plate, and utensil reflects intention and Mexican tradition. The eight courses feature 22 heirloom corn varieties. (Juárez’s expertise spans over 64 varieties.)
Komal’s tasting menu will change every four to six months. The autumn iteration begins with young corn and introduces nixtamalization. A corn silk tea pairs with honey-cocopache butter, arbol chile-nixtamalized miniature corn, dried field grasshoppers, and fried epazote squash. The next course illustrates how tortillas are fried to become a tostada topped with a dry-aged kanpachi aguachile negro. A salsa verde enchilada course honors home cooking; another nods to barbacoa de borrego with a slow-roasted black mole lamb, seasonal Mexican greens, and a tomatillo vinaigrette. A cochinita pibil tamal with fermented habanero and charred plantain salsa rounds the savory courses. A non-alcoholic beverage accompanies every course, making use of typically discarded corn silk, as in that tea, squash stems, or hoja santa leaves. Three desserts finish the meal, including a concha with toasted corn streusel and fermented cacao tea to aid digestion.
Juárez’s gentle approach to guiding diners through her life and her dedication to preserving corn still packs a punch. As a restaurant editor in Los Angeles, observing a chef’s evolution is a joyful part of my job. Juárez’s confidence shines in 2026, though she remains quick to credit her team. “I want to transmit a feeling of home to the people, a feeling of authenticity,” says Juárez. “But it takes time.”
Starting September 19, Komal will host two seatings for 12 guests on Mondays at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. for $160 per person, plus tax and tip. Secure a table via Resy.
More for the table:
- In case you missed it, Souplantation will make its return to Orange County in 2027. A spokesperson told me it will keep the name, instead of the name of its sister restaurant Sweet Tomatoes.
- SF Gate’s Karen Palmer is one of the sharpest on the restaurant beat. She spoke to Los Angeles restaurant owners about the problems that could accompany “the onslaught of rain El Niño is threatening to deliver this year.”
- I’ve been lucky enough to try chef Sanjay Rawat’s modern Indian restaurant, Brick Lane. On November 6 and 7, he will host a Diwali Gala at his Arts District destination, with music, dancing, cocktails, and wine, as well as applewood-smoked butter chicken, mushroom biryani, and more. The $95 per-person ticket is available on Resy.
