Guerrilla Tacos Chef Wes Avila Opens Mexican Restaurant in Kyoto, Japan Next Month

Guerrilla Tacos chef Wes Avila has a new Mexican restaurant in the works. There’s only one catch: It’s in Kyoto, Japan.

The restaurant Piopiko (a rethinking of the name Pio Pico, the last governor of Alta California while still in the hands of Mexico) is part Mexican lunch and dinner option, part cocktail lounge, and is included in a trio of projects heading into the Ace Hotel Kyoto, opening next month. Avila teased Piopiko to L.A. Taco last week, saying that the then-unnamed restaurant would even make its own corn tortillas on premises. The other restaurants include Mr. Maurice’s Italian from chef Marc Vetri, and an unnamed project from Oregon chef Naomi Pomeroy.

And in other news:

— Hollywood membership spot H Club has closed permanently, telling its customers via email that “we have made the very difficult decision to close h Club Los Angeles. We are now also entering a period of consultation with all staff at h Club London regarding the possible closure of the London business.”

— Rossoblu turns three this week, and to celebrate the Downtown restaurant is doing a special menu ($49 per person) that includes grilled game hen, pasta, dessert, and more.

— The Original Farmers Market is back in action (mostly) this week, thanks to relaxed retail rules around the city. That means more restaurant vendors are up and running now too, including the famed Singapore’s Banana Leaf.

— Petit Trois in Hollywood is open once again. The tiny space is doing takeout French food, cocktails, and market staples.

— Red Herring returns in Downtown LA, selling brunch, BBQ kits, cocktails, and more.

— Heritage Barbecue in Orange County is asking for a little finishing help before opening up its restaurant in San Juan Capistrano. The GoFundMe is asking for $30,000 for last-minute costs before a summer arrival.

— The Eastsider asks: Is Taix, the legendary French restaurant in Echo Park, actually worth saving in its current form? Surprisingly, the owner says no, if only because the building itself has been added on, redone, and partially reconstructed multiple times over the years. “very little of the one-story current building is actually historic or worth saving,” the local blog says.

— The city of Beverly Hills is producing a number of videos highlighting some of the area’s best hotel eats, including the McCarthy Salad from the Beverly Hills Hotel, and afternoon tea (shown below) from the Peninsula Beverly Hills.