An easy-to-miss food court just across the 110 from the University of Southern California's campus hides two of Los Angeles' top restaurants. Mo-Chica and Chichen Itza at Mercado La Paloma (3655 S. Grand Avenue) are both listed on food critic Jonathan Gold's list of top 99 restaurants, and yet the Mercado still struggles to attract a local crowd.
 
Chef Gilberto Cetina of Chichen Itza blames the freeway for restricting accessibility, while Mo-Chica's Ricardo Zarate says USC students seem to prefer Subway. Mercado La Paloma's staff admit the market — a space where first-time business owners can get a start — needs to improve its advertising.
 
Still, the market's two standout restaurants are a big draw for a wide variety of people from all over Los Angeles. Here's why:
 
Since opening in 2009, Mo-Chica has enhanced Mercado La Paloma's reputation as a culinary destination. It also raised Chef Ricardo Zarate's reputation. In 2011, he became one of Food & Wine‘s Best New Chefs, opened a restaurant, and is planning the opening of another. While he expands his business, the Peruvian chef is staying true to his roots with his cuisine and the market where he got his start.

Chichen Itza is a Yucatan restaurant at the center of Mercado La Paloma; not only because of where it is situated in the market, but also for its 11 successful years in business. Chef Gilberto Cetina and his son, Gilberto Cetina Jr., have been at the Mercado since day one. Through authentic Yucatan cuisine and incredibly engaging personalities, the father and son team have created a community for Yucatecan people in Los Angeles. They have incorporated family values into their business, and the community that they have created proves it.

 

Reach reporter Cara Rifkin here.  Follow Cara Rifkin on Twitter.

Reach reporter Megan Sweas here.  Follow Megan Sweas on Twitter.