LA Oaxacan Icon Gish Bac Opens Second Location, Plans to Close Original Restaurant | Eater LA
"Opened Saturday, January 25 as the second location from David and Maria Ramos — an Indigenous zapoteco couple who opened a beloved Arlington Heights Oaxacan restaurant in 2010 — the new Pico-Union spot will become the family’s primary operation while the original location will eventually close in six months. The Ramoses had run the Pico-Union space briefly as a community-focused banquet hall in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to shut down in 2020; wanting a different approach they applied for a beer-and-wine license in 2023 and the liquor license came through in late 2024, allowing followers of chef Maria Ramos to pair deeply spiced Oaxacan moles, barbacoa de chivo, and antojitos with Mexican beer and wine. David and Maria left Tlacolula, Oaxaca, for Los Angeles in 1992; third-generation barbacoa master Maria Ramos began cooking her famous barbacoa enchilada, which has deep roots in the Tianguis de Tlacolula, for community events, and after a tumultuous year for the region in 1994 the family built a busy catering business preparing barbacoa enchilada for cultural and religious events — many of those customers attended the ribbon-cutting. "All these people here have been our customers since the beginning," says David Ramos, who, along with his wife Maria and daughter Esther, danced a jarabe del valle with family and friends to the sounds of Maqueos Music; when shots of mezcal are passed from a tray in the middle of a 15-minute-long jarabe, maintaining balance becomes an Olympic sport. The large dining room, marked by desert sand walls and large white floor tiles, will accommodate around 130 seats under rows of multicolored papel picado; a walnut-stained bar with a granite top at the entrance adds to the festive vibe. Maria Ramos’s barbacoa enchilada — a plate of roasted goat in an otherworldly consomé of chiles guajillos coaxed to their peak of spice, tannins, and fruit — is described as an invitation to an Oaxacan wedding reception. The full menu from the original location will be available at the new space, including Maria Ramos’s homemade moles, guisados like salsa de queso, and velvety enfrijoladas, a rich black bean sauce with a punch of epazote poured over folded corn tortillas. Diners can also try the sangrita (offal) with a side of stinging salsa verde and blanditas (large corn tortillas) — Maria Ramos’s signature dish born in Tlacolula and one of the foundational plates of the original. The new location will be managed by daughter Esther Ramos, who worked alongside her parents since she was young before taking a break to study at UC Santa Barbara from 2011 to 2016; "She is now the fourth generation [to learn these traditions]," says Maria Ramos, and the couple are training her on the family recipes. The restaurant does not have a press or public relations team and rarely posts on social media, yet it has become an iconic Los Angeles institution, even appearing in CNN’s Parts Unknown featurette with the late Anthony Bourdain. "Just look at all of David’s white hairs," says Maria Ramos, laughing. After 15 years the family is finally realizing their dream of having a bar to pair with their Valles Centrales cuisine — there will be nothing that an ice-cold beer and a crispy tlayuda can’t remedy." - Bill Esparza
