THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Mas Malo

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Mas Malo Restaurant Review:

Downtown L.A. is ripe with stylish joints, but Mas Malo offers its own insouciant rock n’ roll atmosphere and some very compelling Mexican cuisine. The lofty, gothic dining room is packed and loud on weekends. A mezzanine lounge, private tequila-tasting room and downstairs cantina provide versatile options to this sibling of the Silver Lake original, which it outshines largely due to chef Bernardo Vallejo's soulful menu and local ingredients. You’ll find some of the same favorites---seductive artisan salsas like chile negro and chocolate, or the cultish ground beef and pickle taco. Vallejos’s signature is strongest when it comes to creating a distinctive, locally driven culinary vernacular of East L.A. cuisine. He draws on dishes from the Chicano flavors of Boyle Heights: pork carnitas marinated with Coca-Cola and fresh orange juice, goat barbacoa simmered with ancho chile, and shredded beef birria de res hybridize home-cooking comfort with haute sensibilities---and without pretension. Finish with a rich, custardy flan. Ten specialty tequila cocktails range from pedestrian to provocative---we recommend the organic margarita and a rockin' mezcal and bourbon combo, "the rooster." The bar also boasts more than 300 tequilas.