![[Blog] Lemon Pound Cake at Bäco Mercat](https://dainabeth.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/bacomercat-warmlemonpoundcake1.jpg?w=290&h=290&crop=1 "[Blog] Lemon Pound Cake at Bäco Mercat")
Voila! Take a look at what might be my best food photo yet. At least because the colors are so pretty. (True, the background is all a blur, but sometimes that’s the feeling you get when you bite into a truly delicious warm lemon pound cake, no?) Continue reading
![[LA Weekly] Bäco Mercat Gets Expanded Hours + Why The Chef Looks So Tired](https://dainabeth.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/bacomercat-warmlemonpoundcake.jpg?w=290&h=290&crop=1 "[LA Weekly] Bäco Mercat Gets Expanded Hours + Why The Chef Looks So Tired")
Josef Centeno has had his plate full since his new restaurant, Bäco Mercat, opened its doors in early November. Good thing it’s only half a mile from the Lazy Ox Canteen where he continues as chef.We recently found Centeno perched high on a ladder outside Bäco Mercat wielding a squeegee. It was his first day off in weeks, he said. “But I guess I’m still working,” the chef-owner added with a shrug as he wiped another window clean… Continue reading
![[Blog] Bäco Mercat Now Open: When is a Coca a Pizza? (+ Photos)](https://dainabeth.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/069.jpg?w=290&h=290&crop=1 "[Blog] Bäco Mercat Now Open: When is a Coca a Pizza? (+ Photos)")
A couple of days ago, I arrived for lunch early and peeked into the kitchen. Cooks were slamming huarache-shaped rounds of dough onto a hot griddle where bubbles burst forth like boiling lava. These flatbreads became the base for bäcos and cocas, two of the menu’s signature items….The coca I tasted came with confit tomato sauce, mozzarella, smoked jalapeno and basil. And it was delicious – the perfect mix of dry crunch and soft, savory sauce. But wait. Wasn’t it just a thin version of pizza?… Continue reading
Locals in downtown’s Historic Core this week were quick to sniff out the area’s newest lunchtime option, Bäco Mercat. The eatery — still in its “soft-opening” — greeted its first customers Tuesday.”We decided at midnight on Monday that we would open doors for two hours the next day,” chef-owner Josef Centeno told us yesterday. “We’re playing it by ear.” Just before noon, Centeno illuminated a glowing red “bäco” sign, signaling the start of lunch. Continue reading
![[LA Weekly] Your Bäco Update: Josef Centeno’s Bäco Mercat Opens Next Week](https://dainabeth.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pescobaco.jpg?w=290&h=290&crop=1 "[LA Weekly] Your Bäco Update: Josef Centeno’s Bäco Mercat Opens Next Week")
The bäco is back, and this time, in a starring role. Josef Centeno’s Bäco Mercat is slated to open Monday, Oct. 24 for lunch. The chef and owner describes his signature dish as “a sandwich-taco-pizza hybrid that encompasses my style of cooking in a sandwich: a lot of flavorful meat and sauce combinations.” The name derives from Centeno’s concept of a global taco…. Continue reading
After writing LA-centric features for the school newspaper, arts and entertainment articles for the LA Times, and one op-ed about African-American newspapers for the Pasadena Star News, my journalism career is taking yet another turn. I am becoming a food writer! Today, my first posts for the LA Weekly food blog, Squid Ink, were published. Continue reading
Lotus land 