After more than a decade with the José Andrés Group — first joining Minibar’s opening team in Washington D.C, and later as the Bazaar’s chef de cuisine and the group’s corporate research and development chef — Joshua Whigham set out on his own in 2025 to open Los Feliz’s charming Casa Leo. Tucked under Messhall Kitchen at the top of Hillhurst Avenue, the restaurant retains bits of Whigham’s past, weaving Spanish sensibilities through the menu alongside California ingredients. Casa Leo isn’t trying to reinvent Spanish cooking — instead, it fills a crucial slot as a reliable neighborhood restaurant for puffy-crusted cocas, ruby-red tuna crudo swimming in olive oil, and Spanish wine in a dining room that would look at home on the Iberian Peninsula.
What to order
- Coca, a Spanish flatbread with roots in Catalonia, is the runaway star on the menu. At Casa Leo, the dough comes from a decades-old starter that bakes into a disc with the blistered edges of a Neapolitan pizza and the crisp base of Roman pinsa. Order it topped with springy oyster mushrooms and herbaceous salsa verde, or salty lardons punctuated by Cantabrian queso picón and passion fruit.
- Trout en escabeche is a tribute to the renowned Basque chef Martín Berasategui, who is behind restaurants including the eponymous Martín Berasategui and Lasarte. The dish arrives with delicate skin-on butterflied trout swimming in a piquant, garlic-tinged sauce that glistens under Casa Leo’s warm lights. Listen to your server when they inevitably suggest using any coca remains to soak up every drop of the sauce.
- A simple pan con manchego lays crushed tomatoes and triangles of mild cheese onto slices of fragile pan de cristal for a simple starter that sets the tone for the rest of the meal. Just be aware that this is one of the smaller, more tapas-style dishes on the menu — $10 gets you two pieces.
- Helen’s Cheesecake, made from a secret family recipe, blends the best of Basque and New York cheesecake styles with a light-as-air, foamy interior and a crushed-cookie base. From the side, it resembles layers of a planet: a sturdy golden-brown crust stacked beneath a tangy cream center whose texture resembles whipped ricotta, all framed by a spongy meringue top.
To drink
A bottle of Vichy Catalan sparkling mineral water, which tastes like a saline Mediterranean breeze, makes an ideal pairing. Or explore the Spanish wines on the menu, including bottles from the Canary Islands, Galicia, and Catalonia.
Insider tip
Whigham recommends Sawtelle Sake, a local distillery that uses grains from Lopes Family as an unexpected yet outstanding match for Helen’s Cheesecake. The floral notes play against the cream cheese for a digestif-style sipper that feels uniquely Los Angeles.
