Café Tondo
Cafe · Chinatown
1135 N Alameda St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Highlights
CDMX-inspired cafe-bar with pan dulce, coffee, wine & bites
CDMX-inspired cafe-bar with pan dulce, coffee, wine & bites
"It was a bummer when Oriel in Chinatown closed, but its neon-lit building under the metro tracks didn’t sit empty for long. It’s now home to Cafe Tondo, a daytime cafe and wine bar hybrid with a heavy Mexico City influence and sculptural-looking furniture. Mornings feature coffee, matcha, chilaquiles, and conchas, with the menu shifting toward wine, spritzes, and bites like empanadas and tortas in the afternoon. We recently visited Cafe Tondo and added it to our Spots Of The Summer." - cathy park
"Bathed in a neon pink glow, the former Oriel in Chinatown was known for being among the film noir-iest spots in town. Café Tondo, the casual CDMX-themed spot that replaced it, somehow ranks even higher on the moodiness index. Not quite a restaurant (there’s just a handful of snacky dishes like empanadas and chicken milanesa) and not fully a bar (they’ve got five wines, a couple vermouths, and some beer), Tondo is a nighttime cafe in the strictest sense—a place where chain-smoking graphic designers and people dressed like 1970s character actors commune over spritzes and bikini sandwiches. You can pop by for pastries during the day, but to experience Tondo's scene in full feral splendor, show up for a late-night hangout where everyone spills onto the sidewalk and flirts with gildas and cheladas in hand to a soundtrack of Mexican bolero songs and metro trains rumbling overhead. photo credit: Brant Cox RESERVE A TABLE" - Brant Cox
"Opening on July 25 under the A Line train tracks in the former Oriel space, this Mexico City–influenced cafe and bar is the result of a collaboration between first-time restaurateur and Mouthwash Studios co-founder Abraham Campillo, Mike Kang of Locale Partners, and chef Valeria Velasquez. Campillo built the project as a community gathering place—“As designers who often do digital things, we feel specifically within our community that algorithms are pushing us further [apart],” he says—and he intentionally kept the prior kitchen staff, paying them during the three-month transition and buildout to preserve the small back-of-house knowledge needed to operate the space. Chef Velasquez, for whom this is her first U.S. head-chef project after stints at 108, Amass (Copenhagen), Café Altro Paradiso and Mattos Hospitality (New York), and Rosetta (Mexico City), draws on Campillo’s childhood, her upbringing in Bogotá, and years living in Mexico City: “It’s like a celebration of Latino culture, especially Mexico City’s vibrant culture,” she says. “I am Colombian. I was born and raised there, but I now live in Mexico City. I’ve been [in Mexico City] since the pandemic started, and it’s definitely shaped my style as a cook.” Morning service (starting at 7 a.m.) focuses on coffee and pastries—drip coffee and espresso made with Verve beans, mate, slow-simmered bone broth, matcha lattes made with Rocky’s Matcha, hot chocolate, and suero, “a classic Mexican drink made with sparkling water, salt, and lime juice”—with a weathered wood pastry case from Rosetta offering conchas, pan de muerte, pan de elote, and other pastries made from Velasquez’s recipes; larger breakfast plates include piloncillo- and cinnamon-tinged café de olla, chilaquiles verde, eggs al gusto, and hot cakes made with masa from Mercado La Paloma’s Indigenous Mexican restaurant Komal. Beginning in the afternoon there’s a drinks program of wine, spritzes, and beer (including Tecate- or Modelo-based cheladas and micheladas and vermouth spritzes), as well as ice-cold Jarritos, Mexican Coke, and a house mocktail; coffee stays available all day. At 4 p.m. the menu shifts to Colombian empanadas with a yellow-hued flaky masa crust, tortas filled with carnitas or mushrooms, and small plates like marinated olives, chips and salsa, gildas with skewered anchovies, and fries; only two larger dinner plates are offered—chicken Milanesa with arugula salad and aioli and steak frites drizzled with a verdant chimichurri—because, as Velasquez notes, “We all grew up eating [Milanesa], in every [Latino] culture.” Dessert is an affogato de olla rolled out on a revamped dim sum cart as a nod to Chinatown. Designed by Aunt Studio with intentional nods to the building’s prior lives as a tire shop and massage parlor, the space retains patinated concrete floors, exposed ceilings, and painted white brick walls; neon lights cast a red-pink glow in the evening, a gray-hued stone bar sits inside the main room flanked by a mirrored column with a window into the kitchen, and a reflective metal La Marzocco espresso machine and dark wood shelving hold wine and glassware. Seating includes white-upholstered bar stools, cushioned banquettes and two-tops, a small side room that opens via a glass garage door onto an enclosed patio (the main dining room is walk-in only while the patio and side room can be reserved), heavy scalloped tables built by Ombia Studio in Mexico, and ceramics by Isabella Marengo of Bugambilia; Campillo also emphasizes the personal nature of the project: “The art is from my house. The food is the food I grew up with, the music is the music I grew up with. I see the beer my uncles would drink late at night. It’s a very personal thing. But then again, I think the beauty is in the sharing.” Intentionally community-minded and price-accessible as neighborhood costs rise, all breakfast dishes are under $20 (steak frites is the most expensive at $30), glasses of wine range $15–$17, and cans of Tecate are $5. The program will include regular performances—weekly Sunday jazz, DJ residencies, bolero, and salsa with the hope that people will dance—and hours begin July 25 with limited evening hours, expanding on August 1 to open at 7 a.m.; current posted hours are 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday–Thursday, and 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday–Saturday (with the August 1 schedule shifting to 7 a.m. openings and similar evening hours)." - Rebecca Roland
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