Silver Lake’s Modern Mexican Restaurant Tintorera Closes After Eight Months

It’s the end of the line for patio stunner Tintorera in Silver Lake. The gorgeous mostly outdoor restaurant didn’t make the year mark, despite having some big backing including Mexico City chef Maycoll Calderon.

Despite the hype and hope of the place, it seems Silver Lakers either couldn’t find or didn’t return to the upscale casual Mexican seafood restaurant. The speakeasy-style bar inside offered its own kind of promise, but turnover there — including a very brief stint with bartender Aaron Melendrez — made for rocky going. Google now lists Tintorera as permanently closed, and the restaurant’s Resy page is no longer taking reservations. The place has actually been locked up tight for almost two weeks if also counting the shutters due to last month’s rainstorms, an issue that (obviously) drastically affects the glimmering patio places that populate much of the city.

Calderon and partner Walter Meyenberg did not return requests for comment, but it’s clear from the former’s Instagram that he is already back and cooking at his other restaurant Huset in Mexico City. Along with the loss of acclaimed chef Diego Hernandez with the closing of Verlaine, Los Angeles is suddenly facing a small setback in the upscale modern Mexican food department these days. Thankfully places like Broken Spanish, Taco Maria, and many others continue to carry the torch.

Today’s official closing of Tintorera comes on the heels of several other high-profile shutters like The Church Key in West Hollywood and Mexikosher in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood, and could portend plenty of things to come for a city that has been inundated with outside dollars and big, spendy new restaurant openings in the past year.

• The 12 Essential Silver Lake Restaurants [ELA]