Mas Malo Brings Mexican Comfort Fare and Sleek Design to Restaurant Row
Lauren Mattia
Mas Malo's Brazilian-inspired basement offers a more intimate dining experience.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Mas Malo, a take on Silverlake’s original Malo restaurant, opened on Friday to serve up Chef Robert Luna’s Mexican comfort food to Downtowners.
Mas Malo joins 7th Street’s up-and-coming Restaurant Row, and occupies an impressive art-deco building that was formerly Brock Jewlers in the early 1920s. Drawing from 1960s Brazil as well as Downtown’s urban landscape, interior designer Tracy Beckmann chose to use “loud, boistrous colors.”
Inspired by the building’s unique interior, Beckmann focused on “elevating the historical architecture by highlighting what was there and not retracting from it.” In order to do so, Beckmann used simple paint colors on the rosetted ceilings “to make it more sophisticated.”
While most of the restuarant follows Malo’s signature red, black, and white color scheme, the basement of the restaurant offers a completely different color palate and design style, “adding a cool, Brazilia hippie layer,” according to Beckmann. She noted that the basement has been hailed as “one of the best rooms Downtown.”
As for the menu, many of Luna’s Malo favorites are featured, like tacos with ground beef and pickles, cheddar and potato, and soya-riso, as well as the eatery's signature chewy chips and burnt habanero creme salsa.
While Mas Malo stays true to its older sibling’s menu (PDF, via Eater), it also goes into new territory with dishes like Huachinango Al Mojo de Ajo (Pacific red snapper sautéed in habañero white wine garlic butter), Ensenada Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp, and Rock Lobster tails sautéed with garlic, red chiles, lime, and white wine to add some Downtown refinement to the locally-sourced focus.
Mas Malo offers Mexican fare with Downtown flare, and brings Restaurant Row one step closer to becoming a culinary force to be reckoned with. It will be a featured restaurant in DineLA Restaurant Week, running from January 23-28 and January 30th-February 4th.
Mas Malo / 515 W. 7th / 213-985-4332
Guest on January 10, 2011, at 04:31PM – #1
Thanks for writing about this. I was out on Friday and Saturday, and I could not believe the number of people out and about on 7th Street. It really is turning into Restaurant Row. Bottega Louie, Wokcano, SugarFish, Soi 7 and Mas Malo were just packed. I'm going to try Mas Malo sometime this week hopefully. Mo-Chica will have a lot of competition when it opens.
Now if Broadway can become our retail corridor, that would be great!
Guest on January 10, 2011, at 04:40PM – #2
bacon wrapped shrimp were delicious! the only complaint.....$12 for chips and salsa, oh and $4 to refill the chips.
Guest on January 10, 2011, at 09:22PM – #3
What makes this "comfort food"?
Anthony Costantino on January 10, 2011, at 09:54PM – #4
Guest 3: :) It's Mexican comfort food for yuppies. AND THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. I'm not going to bash it like the Umami thread, the $12 salsa flight comes with loads of chips (if they do charge $4 to refill that's BS) and my starving party of four didn't come close to finishing it. The food is definitely tasty and not TOO overpriced ($6 for two basic tacos) but yeah, calling one dish Boyle Heights Picnic ($14 for a quarter chicken) is really pushing it. Which Boyle Heights are we talking about?
Guest on January 10, 2011, at 11:05PM – #5
7th makes a great restaurant row, Broadway needs to be the theater and shopping row.
TBerry on January 11, 2011, at 02:52AM – #6
Grabbed a drink there during the PACKED opening weekend, went back for lunch yesterday around 1:30 when it was calm enough to sit down immediately without a reservation. It's excellent... I'm glad I won't have to take the subway to partake in some Malo anymore. I much prefer this space to the silverlake location anyway... but that's the history buff in me speaking. The cozy original will still be special. I agree with guest 4... I'm really looking forward to a revitalized Broadway theater district... and it seems there has been some positive activity on that front lately as well.
bill on January 11, 2011, at 06:50AM – #7
They've done a splendid job on the restoration of a beautiful building. The correctly deserve kudos for that. And, being a downtown resident, I'm thrilled there's another restaurant now open on 7th. That's good news for everyone. But I don't share in the enthusiasm for the food. We didn't care for our meal at all. But I want to support them so I'll enjoy a cocktail at Mas Malo and head out somewhere else for dinner.
Guest on January 11, 2011, at 07:45AM – #8
Waiting for Monday Taco Night to start up here! Well I went yesterday...love the veggie selection like veggie menudo...and the staff was very nice and excited about their workspace and its history. I mean EVERYONE working there. No snooty people working here. I only drank water and they didn't mind like some restaurant workers do. These employees are tops.
Guest on January 11, 2011, at 08:17AM – #9
Thanks for the information. Well, the place is nice I bet so as the food! Good luck to you.
Guest on January 11, 2011, at 08:17AM – #10
Thanks for the information. Well, the place is nice I bet so as the food! Good luck to you.
Guest on January 11, 2011, at 10:38AM – #11
A Taco Tuesday with happy hour specials on Pacifico and Margi's will bring me down there as a regular.
Kristina on January 11, 2011, at 11:18AM – #12
The salsa flight and guacamole were very good accompanied by the chewy chips. I prefer these over the crispy chips. The goat torta was delicious! Not as gamey as I thought it might be. The waiter said they marinate it in root beer. Very tasty and rich. We also had the red snapper. Very good, especially the garlicky, buttery, wine sauce. And finally we had the carnitas which are marinated in coca-cola and orange juice, very good, but a tad dry. Overall a very delicious experience and nice new tasty addition to 7th Street.
Guest on January 11, 2011, at 11:34AM – #13
I had dinner on 7th last week. I didn't know about Mas Malo. I will make sure I check it out next time I'M downtown. The building looks amazing, great article. Elaine
Jamie DeFrisco on January 11, 2011, at 01:54PM – #14
Came by here last Friday, but they were so busy that they couldn't even give us an estimate on when we might get a table(first night open to the public, so I wasn't surprised or upset by this). I decided to go home instead of wait it out. I definitely want to go back to try. Although hopefully when it's not so busy.
Sara Jones on January 11, 2011, at 04:00PM – #15
Sounds delicious! Glad to hear the good reviews. I've got to try the bacon wrapped shrimp.
Ankur on January 12, 2011, at 12:48PM – #16
Service was really bad opening day, but hey the manager apologized and reduced our bill. They were cool about it.
I appreciate the veggie options, the 5 dollar beers (altho, some of the cheaper stuff like modelo should be around 4 bucks imo) and the free chips refills.
Its not that overpriced if you think about it, but with drinks it does add up fast.
Is there going to be a planned HH for drinks? I would dig that!
Scott Mercer on January 12, 2011, at 02:33PM – #17
Ate there a few times when it was still Clifton's Silver Spoon, before it closed up. I think that was around 1995?
That was fun. Glad to see they used some of the original interior design from the jewelry store days.
Karin Liljegren on January 12, 2011, at 09:09PM – #18
Love it - been 3 times in less than a week. Spicy Cucumber Tequila is my fav drink. Still a lot of hit or miss, but hey, it's the first week.
I'd love to hear more about the history of the space, I know some, but not so much, and most people don't even know the murals and wood are original (or at least historic)!
bill on January 13, 2011, at 06:27AM – #19
I was there again last night. The place was packed! I'm so glad they're off to a good start. They have the service aspect down pat. Both of my visits have been marked by outstanding and personable service. The drinks are delicious. I just wish the food were better. Hopefully they will work on that part of it.
Guest on January 13, 2011, at 09:10AM – #20
Can someone clarify the deal with the chips and salsa? They offer it, but I don't know if I have to pay for it. And are refills free by policy or is that a wink-wink thing?
I really don't like paying for chips and salsa...
Downtown Cowboy on January 13, 2011, at 09:35AM – #21
The chips and salsa thing is a bit confusing. Yes, you pay for them. You can either pay $7 for chips and one kind of salsa or you can pay $12 for chips and 5 kinds of salsa. Refills of chips are $4.
Guest on January 13, 2011, at 01:34PM – #22
El Cholos doesnt charge for refills on chips. So good.
dsinla on January 17, 2011, at 10:22PM – #23
Why would you paid for Chips and Salsa? when you can get an Great meal down the street at El compadre( 1449 West Sunset Boulevard) with chips and salsa. and to paid La carte for my rice and beans? no thank you. It's more a bar scene than a restaurant. The menu had too much pork, thing made from Soda pop and things that every the waiteress could not explain to us on the menu. Beside the fact it was a monday night 7:30 and we were asked if we had reservations to more than a 1/2 full restaurant. We tiped and left. Onto the next new restaurant downtown.
Matt Walsh on January 24, 2011, at 05:13PM – #24
Danny's Tacos For Life!
OldAngeleno on February 12, 2011, at 03:28PM – #25
Before being used as the current restaurant and bar space, all three lowest floors of the five-story, including basement, 515 West Seventh Street building were part of the custom-built home of Brock & Co., the "Tiffany's of the West" jewelry story whose Los Angeles roots go back to the late 19th Century (as Nordlinger & Son). Brock's also had a branch in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, on Wilshire Boulevard. Today, Mas Malo is in the basement and on the first floor; Seven Grand is on the Second Floor. Originally, the basement floor of Brock & Co. was shipping and receiving. The first floor was fine jewelry, watches, etc. The second floor (now Seven Grand and with all the amazing, floor-to-ceiling glass cases removed) was china, crystal, and silver. (Presumably, that's the reason for the Clinton family's choice of "Silver Spoon" when they remodeled the building as a cafeteria branch in the late 1970s.)