A decade after Broken Spanish debuted in Downtown Los Angeles, the mercurial restaurant has made a comeback as Broken Spanish Comedor, a more casual version of the original restaurant that brought acclaimed Los Angeles–born chef Ray Garcia’s cooking to the Westside.
When Garcia opened his landmark Downtown Los Angeles restaurant Broken Spanish and its casual sibling, B.S. Taqueria, in 2015, he joined a growing cohort of Latin chefs writing the future of Alta California — a cuisine rooted in Mexican cooking told through its California home. In 2015, Esquire named Garcia its chef of the year as the restaurant solidified itself as a destination for its 36-hour chicharrón, velvety refried lentils imbued with epazote and quesillo, and potato-stuffed
chile relleno blanketed by soubise.
Five years after opening, Broken Spanish closed unceremoniously in August 2020 amid the ballooning pandemic. A year prior, B.S. Taqueria shuttered following unsuccessful negotiations to renew its lease. In 2021, Broken Spanish temporarily revived as a limited-term pop-up at the now-defunct Neuehouse in Hollywood, serving an abbreviated menu of dishes including squash-stuffed tamal, albondigas, and the iconic chicharrón. At the time, Garcia posited that the restaurant would live on in some form after the residency concluded, but, for years, the Broken Spanish front remained dormant as he worked on other projects, including Viva in Las Vegas, Qué Bárbaro inside the Level 8 development, and Asterid at Walt Disney Concert Hall, which has since shuttered. In 2023, B.S. Taqueria announced it would open at Las Vegas’s Sundry at Uncommons; it later relocated to the star-studded Via Via Food Hall in 2025.
For some time, Las Vegas had more Broken Spanish than Los Angeles, its birthplace. Still, those who hoped that Garcia would bring the restaurant back to his hometown didn’t lose their faith. At the end of 2025, Garcia announced that Broken Spanish would return as Broken Spanish Comedor, a perma-residency at the former home of Jason Neroni’s short-lived Best Bet, which once housed an IHOP and Roy Choi’s A-Frame. As part of the announcement, he added that he intends to reopen the original Broken Spanish in Los Angeles as a permanent restaurant.
In October 2025, Broken Spanish Comedor opened the doors to its new A-frame home for the first time, drawing on the tradition of homestyle restaurants found across Mexico. With widespread acclaim for the original iteration, a pure revival probably would have been enough to please Los Angeles, but Garcia had other plans. Broken Spanish Comedor makes it clear that the chef still has more to say: There’s the return of signature dishes like spiral chicharrón bathed in garlic mojo and fall-apart-tender lamb barbacoa with consomé, but years away from the restaurant have given Garcia time and space to further hone his take on Alta California. Broken Spanish Comedor has a distinct neighborhood bend: It’s built for locals to wander in for dinner to mark any occasion, infinite return visits for ice-cold margaritas on its wrap-around patio paired with crispy corn tostadas and guacamole, or laid-back weekend family brunches under the warm glow of the Culver sun.
On the menu
- Chicharrón remains Broken Spanish’s most well-known dish: Nobody does it quite like Garcia. Instead of the widespread puffy preparation found at Mexican markets, Garcia wraps a thick-cut pork belly around itself for a dish that more closely resembles porchetta, before a day-long sous vide and final stop in the fryer. The resulting dish offers a blistered, crispy exterior with layers of meat inside that melts into the garlic-laden sauce below. A hit of acidity from pickled red cabbage brightens the whole dish.
- The tamal en cazuela arrives studded with sweet honeynut squash, roasted mushrooms, and spinach under a thin layer of salsa tatemada. Its masa base — an essential piece of Alta California cuisine — stars with nutty, complex notes that linger long after the dish is finished.
- Beans who? Refried lentils will have even the most particular about their frijoles and refritos worshipping at the altar of their tiny cousin. Black lentils transform into a silky puree with slight stretch from salty quesillo. Slather spoonfuls onto pliant corn tortillas — it’s worth the risk of being almost too full for the next course.
- The comedor’s camote stacks salsa macha butter, pork rinds, and chives onto a smoky coal-roasted Japanese sweet potato with a sweet, pillowy interior. Set aside all expectations of what a loaded potato is — this hits all the notes of spicy, nutty, and salty without being overpowering.
- Weekend-only brunch adds in chilaquiles verdes bathed in mild tomatillo salsa and crowned with briney feta, crema, and cilantro; always add on eggs, which burst with a bright orange yolk onto the bed of chips below. For something sweet, the panqueques arrive with a two-stack of masa pancakes that taste like a tribute to a sweet corn tamale, paired with citrus butter and maple syrup.
To drink
Broken Spanish Comedor doesn’t shy away from salinity in its margarita, which arrives strong and not too sweet (a zero-proof version is also available). Or go for the housemade fizzy orange Fanta. The restaurant also offers a wine list with bottles mainly from Baja California and California, plus a handful of beers. During brunch, café de olla prepared with Verve instant coffee arrives in a ceramic mug, gently sweetened with piloncillo and spiced with canela.
Insider tip
Broken Spanish Comedor offers happy hour from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday with a menu of discounted dishes that include crispy chicharrones, a quesadilla, albondigas, and enchiladas alongside a Mexican lager and margaritas.
The takeaway
Although Broken Spanish Comedor has been positioned as a perma-residency offshoot of its progenitor, it feels like an evolution that is right for the times. The laidback atmosphere, generous service, and hum of adjacent tables set the stage for some of the best Garcia’s cooking has ever been. It’s rare that a restaurant this good genuinely feels like a neighborhood spot where regulars can tuck in without setting an alarm for a reservation two weeks in advance, but Broken Spanish Comedor has cracked the code. A decade after Broken Spanish first opened, Garcia’s cooking is no longer just part of the foundation of Los Angeles’s Alta California cooking — it’s also the genre’s future.
