Flour Tortilla Favorites Loqui Open For Tacos Today in Playa Vista

Playa Vista’s bright new Free Market complex has arrived, and with it a collection of places to eat, shop, and generally hang out. There’s the brand new Jeni’s Ice Cream for dessert, but the real star of the show on the dining side is Loqui, the popular flour tortilla favorite that first opened at the Platform development in Culver City back in 2016. The restaurant, founded by Cameron Wallace and Ari Ampudia, began as a pop-up out of San Francisco’s Tartine years ago, before heading south and eventually expanding into the Arts District as well.

Now they’ve landed in Playa Vista, not far from the temporarily-closed fellow flour tortilla makers HomeState. The new Loqui will offer patio seating for tacos and Mexican craft beer, as well as a takeaway menu that includes family-style meals and packaged flour tortillas. The restaurant formally opens today, April 15, and will keep hours from Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 8 p.m.

In other news:

• Grand Central Market is hosting another vaccine drive today from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome, and the Pfizer doses are available to anyone aged 18 and up.
• Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves has a new series on Discovery+ called Restaurant Recovery, aimed at helping struggling restaurants across the country. Tonight’s episode features none other than Chili John’s in Burbank. Bonus points: This episode features none other than Snoop Dogg as well.
• Eagle Rock Brewery is hosting a series of Sunday pop-ups at its brewery location titled Welcome to Our World. The rotating weekly events will feature AAPI businesses and people like chef Esther Lee (doing Korean bibimbap) and chef Charles Namba of Tsubaki, who will cook Japanese food. Each meal comes with a four-pack of beers, and a portion of proceeds will go towards Stop AAPI Hate.

• The With Warm Welcome advocacy team is expanding to LA with a baker’s box program that features bites from 18 different female AAPI bakers and chefs, including bites from Jennifer Yee of Baker’s Bench, Kym Estrada of San & Wolves Bakehouse, Laura Hoang of Largwa, Pauline Chou of Steep LA, and more. Boxes run $100 apiece by preorder only.
• Blackwood Coffee Bar is now open at 7253 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, which was formerly the home of Food Lab. Meanwhile Canter’s Deli has opened a new takeaway/ghost kitchen space further west at 12109 Santa Monica Boulevard in Santa Monica, per Toddrickallen.
• Lupa Cotta is popping up at Chez Tex in Venice on Friday, April 23 from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The menu for the one-day event, featuring folded mini-pizzas, garlic knots, and wine, is below.