[Updated] Mo-Chica (Not Yet) Moving to Downtown

By Elina Shatkin Sun., Dec. 5 2010 at 10:55 AM

Categories: Restaurant Openings, Restaurant Openings & Closings

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Anne Fishbein

Update: I spoke to Ricardo Zarate, who says he has absolutely NOT signed a lease on a new location for Mo-Chica. When he does, it will probably be to open a second location but not to close down the first. The leak was the work of an over-eager real estate agent. Zarate tells me he is looking for a second location, and he is considering the location at 514 W. 7th St. as one among many. When he finds a venue he likes, he's looking for an opening in June, at the earliest. In the meantime, he's readying Picca for a January opening.

Mo-Chica, a longtime favorite of our own Jonathan Gold, is moving from its digs in La Mercado Paloma near USC to a larger location on 7th St. between Grand and Olive in downtown Los Angeles, reports the Downtown News.

Between the move for Mo-Chica and Picca, his new anticucho concept opening in the Test Kitchen space, chef/owner Ricardo Zarate is a busy man.

The new Mo-Chica will take over the 1,800-square-foot space previously occupied by Sandella's Flatbread Café in preparation for a March opening. The space is in the base of the Coulter and Mandel building at 514 W. 7th St. That's spitting distance from Seven Grand. Someday soon, you can chase your ceviche with a shot of whiskey.