"Xuntos is the best Spanish restaurant on the Westside and the kind of place where dinner can turn into a three-hour party without really noticing. That’s because everyone in this homey, two-story spot in Downtown Santa Monica lets loose over vermouth cocktails, Basque cider, and however many rounds of garlicky gambas they can get in before their parking meter runs out. The menu is specifically northern Spanish—that’s right, LA has hyper-regional Spanish food now—and features things that belong on a José Andres travel special, including grilled baby squid balloons full of minced shallots, fatty seabass collars we eat like chicken wings, and scallops on the half-shell bathed in golden saffron butter." - brant cox, sylvio martins, arden shore, cathy park
