Le DräQ Is Not Just a Greatest-Hits Album

Bäco Mercat wasn’t the first Josef Centeno restaurant I fell in love with (that’s Lot 1), though it’s probably the one I’ve missed most — a low-key hangout rooted in puffy, pita-adjacent flatbread surrounding all manner of flavorful fillings. Centeno’s revived it (sort of), along with the more recently closed Tex-Mex favorite, Bar Ama, and his short-lived experimental Takoria at Le DräQ in Downtown Los Angeles. Centeno describes his new place as a “three-headed beast.” The metaphor works in that you’re not quite sure which beast to focus on at any given time; in the end, it doesn’t really matter because they’ve all got teeth. 

• The Baco, what many of us came for, has three distinct fillings that give fans what they want. A shrimp rendition feels reminiscent of a Baja-style taco ; a wagyu take has chunks of chicken chicharrón. Some come with a new cheese-filled version of the signature bread that we can’t oversell (see tip below). 
• The menu’s B-side may not be what everyone’s here for — but it should be. This is where you can see Centeno’s wild experimentation for a quarter of the price of visiting his more upscale Orsa & Winston next door. Vegetable-centric offerings change; we kept going back for more of a recent romanesco with young huitlacoche. 
• I hate to be that girl , but yes you should get the burger, a thick patty made with a custom meat blend draped in Havarti on a soft (but not too soft) milk bread bun, served with hand-cut Kennebec dill fries. 
• I took my Texan in-laws to Bar Ama once and they still swear it’s the greatest Tex-Mex they’ve ever had. A lot of that is thanks to the queso, which is less rare to find in Los Angeles these days but still blows everything else out of the ranch water.

Casual and little confused: the sign for Bar Ama still glows in the corner and there’s no aesthetic point of view emanating from the space itself. None of the diverse crowd of diners seems to care, whether spread across a long banquette or bellied up to the bar. 

This is for Centeno superfans who want a little dose of nostalgia with their goat cheese-stuffed dates and quesoritto. 

Order a standalone piece of cheese-stuffed bäco bread on the side for the ultimate Bar Ama queso dipper.