Mercado on 3rd Street near the Grove is set to open next week

Jesse Gomez had a hit on his hands as soon as he opened Mercado in downtown Santa Monica, a bustling modern Mexican restaurant that draws locals and tourists alike.

Now the third-generation restaurateur is hoping his second Mercado location -- set to open Wednesday -- will do much the same in the same spot on West 3rd Street where a string of others (Yi Cuisine, Celadon, Faux Pas) didn’t.

“I always wanted to keep going,” Gomez says. “I was happy and a little surprised with our success in Santa Monica. But it’s downtown Santa Monica, there’s lots of locals, tourists, lots of foot traffic.... So what was the next step?”

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It’s the 185-seat, 5,800-square-foot Mercado 2.0 in a neighborhood next to the Grove, though Gomez originally had been looking in Echo Park and downtown L.A., where he also owns Yxta. And although he mentions Red O, El Coyote, Petty Cash and Loteria, he says there “isn’t a whole lot of competition for a full-service, sit-down, full-bar Mexican restaurant in the neighborhood.”

For continuity, Gomez says, the menu will be much the same as the Mercado in Santa Monica -- chef-partner Jose Acevedo’s rajas poblanas with house-made tortillas, chayote con calabacitas, salads, tacos, farmers market vegetables, tamales, carnitas and more. “There’s a much bigger kitchen here,” Acevedo says of the 3rd Street Mercado. “I can do more specials.”

Cocktails are also familiar, such as the margarita de jamaica with hibiscus-infused reposado tequila; a New Fashioned with reposado tequila or mezcal, cane syrup and Mexican bitters; and La Piña with silver tequila, muddled pineapple, cilantro and jalapeno.

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The restaurant was designed by Ana Henton of Mass Architecture & Design, with a central open-air bar that seats 15 and distinct dining areas with dark leather booths, tables and chairs, or counter-height communal seating and banquettes.

There are fireplaces in both a lounge area and a covered patio that opens onto 3rd Street, accented by white brick and caged chandeliers with exposed bulbs, a nod to the design at the original Mercado. Photos of the markets of Mexico City line one wall, and in the rear dining room in the days before the restaurant’s debut, Carlos Nieto III was finishing a Dia de los Muertos-themed mural, the final touch.

7910 W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles, (323) 944-0947, www.mercadorestaurant.com.
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