Ka’teen

Guerrilla Tacos founder Wes Avila’s sexy new spot at the Tommie Hollywood hotel is set almost entirely outdoors and is ultra-heavy on the Tulum vibes, with leather-and-wood barrel chairs, dozens of rattan-covered lights hanging overhead, and lush greenery everywhere. The look matches the Yucatan-inspired fare that ranges from simple chips and guac to various cold seafood dishes like Tuna Aguachile and a Striped Bass Ceviche to heftier entrees of Cochinita Pibil and Mushroom Birria. A slew of mezcal-driven cocktails, crafted with ingredients like serrano peppers, tamarindo, and red mole, rounds out the coastal Mexican menu.

Chef Wes Avila is an LA legend, Poseidon behind the wave of elevated and creative Chicano tacos that swept the city over the last decade or so. He merged his experience in fine dining with his LA upbringing at Guerrilla Tacos, and then he let his imagination roam at his newer freestyle lunch counter Angry Egret before landing in Hollywood at the clubby, fashionable Yucatan-inflected Ka’Teen. The Pibil is the most obvious nod to Mexico’s Eastern peninsula, heritage pork rubbed with achiote and bitter orange then wrapped in banana leaves to cook for hours. There are interesting vegetarian takes on birria and pibil, and of course there are fish tacos and aguachile, too. Many of the drinks are infused with bright hits of acid from passionfruit and mango, and the space leans heavily into its tropical inspiration, all palms, ferns, and wicker under the open air.