Big night last night.
Tuxedos and gowns were placed upon bodies.
Small golden statues were exchanged.
The final touches were put on a former garage in preparation for its debut as a showstopping Mexican date spot.
This is the age of Cala, a shiny new datery from chef Gabriela Cámara. It’s her first stateside restaurant, and it’s soft-opening tonight on Fell Street. (Your slideshow awaits.)
Come with a date after a show at the Jazz Center. Make sure you’re craving seafood—because, yes, the dinner menu is only seafood.
You’ll step into a concrete space with a big wall of ivy and sun flooding through the skylights above. There’s also a fig tree, so nice touch there. It’s the type of spot that may or may not have formerly been a garage (it was).
To one side of the black limestone bar: a golden kitchen, alive with promises of pescado a la talla and salmon tostadas and housemade tortillas. But bank toward the other side, where tables wait for you to kick back with sotol-spiked Old Fashioneds or something involving wild-foraged bacanora (the stuff was bootlegged until 1992).
And soon, they’ll offer weekend brunch and a back-alley taco lunch stand.
As far as back alleys go, that’ll be a good one.
