Descanso Restaurant - Los Angeles
Mexican restaurant · Mid-Wilshire ·
Modern Mexican kitchen & bar with plancha dining experience
Modern Mexican kitchen & bar with plancha dining experience
"Descanso is the second location of a Mexican restaurant in Orange County that does margarita flights and unnecessarily complicated but satisfying tacos. Their palatial LA location in SAG-AFTRA Plaza on Miracle Mile has a similar ethos, except it’s so loud that someone 15 feet away from you could be naked and screaming, and you might not notice. Between the guitarist belting Maluma covers in the corner, the random tabletop grills in the back, and all those margarita flights, it truly doesn’t take much effort to have fun here. photo credit: Descanso photo credit: Descanso photo credit: Descanso photo credit: Descanso photo credit: Descanso Pause Unmute If what Descanso does best is throw party dinners, then second place goes to their over-the-top, blue corn tortilla tacos. Some of these have elegy-length lists of ingredients, none of which ultimately matter because you’re not going to detect any “chipotle peach syrup.” What does matter is that the garlic-marinated ribeye and mahi mahi brushed with chamoy taste good and arrive hot and fast from the kitchen. Aside from tacos, Descanso’s menu tries to do a lot under its “modern taquería” label, from whole-fried snappers to nachos, and success rates vary. The restaurant also dedicate a section of its space to “plancha dining experiences,” where a chef will slice and dice everyone’s a la carte entrees and set ribeyes and cheesy rajas ablaze on massive tabletop griddles. That’s certainly one way to have fun dinner at Descanso, but you'll be just as set at one of the booths, long tables, or seats in front of the beautiful round bar, too. Wherever you choose to celebrate, take comfort in knowing other diners won’t even hear your friends screaming about how great these birthday plans panned out. Food Rundown Tres Margaritas We saw someone nursing this margarita flight, pointed to their drinks, and said, “That please.” They’re as sweet as they are boozy, and the hibiscus one tastes like an agua fresca. photo credit: Sylvio Martins Ceviche Campechano This is a refreshing, Clamato-forward ceviche served with warm tortilla chips. Pair it with beer or a fruity cocktail. What more could you ask? Well, in this case, maybe, a little more salt. photo credit: Sylvio Martins Diablitos These smoky grilled shrimp have a little singe from Descanso’s chile-limón dust. It's a nice snack to start off your meal but, again, they need salt. photo credit: Sylvio Martins Tacos The most fun section of Descanso’s menu, especially if all you want is a cold lager and a few bites. Our favorite is the Felipe, which tastes like a beef and mushroom stir-fry with garlicky ribeye and oyster mushrooms in a tart salsa cruda. photo credit: Sylvio Martins Crispy Carnitas Skillet We appreciate that these carnitas come out extra hot, but the pork tastes like it’s been sitting in its fat for a little too long. You can skip. Paraiso Huachinango Available weekends only, this whole-fried red snapper looks like one of the animatronic skeletons on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride by the time we were done with it. The sweet meat flakes right off the bone and its skin crackles like freshly fried chicharrón. It’s served with warm tortillas and pico de gallo, too, so taco away. photo credit: Sylvio Martins" - Sylvio Martins
"Taking over the massive Callender’s Grille in Mid‑Wilshire that closed in 2018, this LACMA- and La Brea Tarpits‑adjacent space opened on January 23 and occupies a 9,000‑square‑foot room that greets diners with a massive brick entryway leftover from the previous operator, a small foyer leading into a 20‑foot‑high bottle shelf, and a circular bar that dominates the center of the dining room. Operator Rob Arellano first opened Descanso in 2018 in Costa Mesa and says he was inspired by childhood trips to Mexico City and Guadalajara with his father, though the food more closely reflects Sinaloan cuisine. The kitchen emphasizes plancha/steel‑top grilling—acknowledging that plancha‑style tacos are prevalent in Mexico City while charcoal‑grilled meats tend to rule the roost in Sinaloa—and notes that in Southern California street tacos are often prepared on steel top grills, where taqueros finish off meats including lengua, buche, suadero, and tripas, making the main cooking method more than familiar to locals. To the far right of the central bar there’s a set of teppanyaki‑style planchas in a semi‑private space where cooks prepare meats in front of diners over steel top grills; that semi‑private plancha room has its own menu format, with two starters of Caesar salad or fideos soup and mains such as carne asada, pork loin alambre, blackened halibut, or rajas con quero, which are paired with blue corn or flour tortillas and Mexican‑style fried rice. ThinkBenihana’smeetsJavier’s(Benivier’s? Javihana’s?). To the left, a more casual section with hanging lights conjures Mexican‑style al fresco seating (though technically indoors) with another bar‑height counter and solo plancha that feels like a private taco stand; an additional private plancha dining room seats groups of up to 10 who can get their own personal chef for the evening. The rest of the dining areas feature a typical à la carte menu with tremendous variety—nachos, guacamole with chips, ceviche campechano with octopus and shrimp, shrimp taquitos, and short rib birria empanadas—and about a dozen kinds of tacos priced between $8.50 and $18 that come fully assembled (but without salsa, which one will need to request), including roasted Anaheim chile, garlic‑marinated ribeye, morita chile‑marinated octopus, and spit‑roasted al pastor over blue corn tortillas. A dozen or so entrees reuse many taco components as composed plates, such as braised short rib estofado swimming in pinto bean jus or saucy lobster enchiladas covered in a poblano‑mango‑habanero salsa; most dishes tend to pile on micro cilantro, crema Mexicana, and cotija cheese. For dessert, the almost‑runny flan dusted with hibiscus “could be one of the better versions in town,” and a coconut‑topped tres leches also stands out. The room’s size, central location, and broad menu position it among Los Angeles’s modern Mexican scene—alongside Mexico City‑influenced Damian, LA Cha Cha Chá, and Alma at the Grove, as well as Loreto, Ka’Teen, and Casa Madera—while not being as regionally specific as Loreto (Baja California) or Ka’Teen (Tulum/Yucatán), and offering a convenient alternative for diners unwilling to venture to Century City for their Javier’s fix. Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday–Thursday (until 12 a.m. Friday–Saturday), it opens earlier at 11 a.m. Friday–Sunday and closes at 10 p.m. on Sunday." - Matthew Kang
"A 9,000-square-foot restaurant in Mid-Wilshire that debuted on January 15 with a menu focused on Central Mexican street food: tacos and quesadillas from a taco bar, made-to-order tortillas, ceviches, sopas, braised short rib platters, and lobster enchiladas. The space includes a room with four plancha tables where chefs grill seafood and meats in front of diners." - Rebecca Roland
"Opening inside the former Callendar’s Grill in Mid-Wilshire this summer, Descanso is a modern Orange County taquería from owner Rob Arellano occupying over 9,000 square feet with room for up to 250 diners. The Mexican restaurant will offer a wide menu of tacos, quesadillas, and entrees for lunch, dinner, happy hour, and brunch, and it expects a bustling bar area that should accommodate office workers, LACMA visitors, and locals in a part of town mostly bereft of destination dining. Its signature plancha dining—where cooks prepare multi-course dinners on a steel top grill similar to teppanyaki—will be available, and executive chef Jose Angulo, who hails from San Julián, Jalisco, will oversee a menu that melds techniques and recipes he learned from his grandmother with a decade of professional cooking across Southern California." - Matthew Kang
"A new tenant is slated to land in the Miracle Mile: Descanso Modern Taqueria will open inside the gaudy former upscale Marie Callender’s space at 5773 Wilshire Boulevard, promising a teppanyaki-style Mexican dining experience complete with cocktails and a separate taco bar, with plans to open by 2024." - Farley Elliott
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