After more than three decades, Mid-City staple Sky’s Gourmet Tacos announced it will close its full-service restaurant on August 15, 2026, and transition to a catering and ghost-kitchen business. Earlier in 2026, Barbara “Sky” Burrell celebrated 34 years
on Pico Boulevard near Cochran Avenue. Burrell tells Eater that operational challenges have forced her to take immediate action. “Times have changed,” Burrell says. “City policy and regulations have changed. Standards in business have changed. And we have to change, too.”
Angelenos will still be able to order Sky’s all-day breakfast tacos, lobster tacos, wraps, and crawfish burritos, but from the future ghost-kitchen site; Burrell is currently in negotiations to lease a new space to accommodate catering and a prep kitchen.
In Los Angeles’s competitive regional taquería scene, Burrell stood out as one of the Los Angeles chefs who celebrates the blend of Black and brown cultures as a soul food–Mexican food hybrid: Black tacos. Los Angeles restaurants such as Sky’s, Worldwide Tacos, and Taco Mell serve a lightly fried tortilla shell featuring meats with non-traditional seasonings (Lawry’s Seasoned Salt or an all-purpose seasoning was standard in my childhood home), and topped with shredded cheese, lettuce, and sour cream.
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Burrell was previously on an expansion path, opening Sky’s Gourmet Marketplace in Marina del Rey in 2016. In 2018, Burrell debuted Sky’s Gourmet Tacos and Marketplace at Westchester’s JM Eagle Building. She cites constantly changing regulations for Los Angeles restaurants that, in part, initiated her choice to close these locations one by one. “The regulations keep piling up,” says Burrell. “[Officials are] not out here in the trenches with real business people. When you have one regulation that changes, it shifts a whole portion of your business and impacts how you operate.”
Over the last few years, the Los Angeles–based Independent Hospitality Coalition (IHC) has traveled extensively to the state capital to ease regulatory requirements, including an outdated and decades-old drinking fountain requirement for restaurants. IHC says that restaurant owners and operators have been required to meet countless, and often expensive, regulatory demands to serve food and drink to the public.
Angelenos have seen a significant number of closures throughout Southern California, including from restaurants that have been around for decades. Sky’s Gourmet Tacos follows other longtime restaurants like My 2 Cents, Ta-Ke Sushi, and Connie & Ted’s, which ceased operations in 2026.
Some of the city’s most beloved Black-owned restaurants reside in Mid-City near Sky’s Gourmet Tacos, including Stevie’s Creole Cafe and CJ’s Cafe. The area, while a nexus between some of Los Angeles’s densely populated communities, still sees slower foot traffic than its surrounding neighbors in Miracle Mile and Culver City.
“The fiber of every city is a small business storefront,” Burrell says. “This makes the community a community.”
