El Arco Iris sister restaurant to open downtown

By Betty HallockDeputy Food Editor

Jan. 30, 2009 3:28 PM PT

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There’s a sign on a building at the corner of 6th Street and Central Avenue in downtown that announces the coming of Yxta Cocina Mexicana. Its website says that Yxta will open in February (and there’s a link for employment applications), though from the outside, the building doesn’t look especially restaurant-ready. Yxta will be the sister restaurant of El Arco Iris, the family-owned Highland Park spot that Gustavo and Irene Montes from Queretaro, Mexico, opened in 1964.

On the planned menu at Yxta are house specialties such as chuleta de puerco (Berkshire pork chop with chipotle tomatillo sauce, Mexican rice and frijoles olla) and carnitas estilo Michoacan (slow-cooked pork with guacamole, pico de gallo and cilantro lime rice). There are more than a few huevos dishes and more than a few enchiladas, including enchilada suizas (pulled chicken with roasted tomatillo sauce) and enchiladas de flor de calabaza (squash blossoms zucchini and queso fresco).

Yxta will be open for lunch and dinner. And there are margaritas listed under the bebidas.

601 S. Central Ave., Los Angeles; www.yxta.net

-- Betty Hallock

Daily Dish

Betty Hallock

Betty Hallock is deputy Food editor at the Los Angeles Times. She has co-written four cookbooks, including “Bäco: Vivid Recipes from the Heart of Los Angeles,” “Amá: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen” and “Baking at République.” She started her journalism career at the Wall Street Journal and Scientific American in New York, worked on the L.A. Times’ Business desk, and was interim food editor at Los Angeles Magazine. Hallock also helped launch a food and nutrition vertical for wellness app RoundGlass. She’s a graduate of UCLA and New York University.