Hola, Silicon Beach!

New spots in Venice, Marina del Rey and Playa Vista offer three very different takes on Mexican cuisine.

Oaxacan-born chefs Pedro Aquino and Juan Hernandez find overlaps in flavor, palette, landscape and ethos between their native region and Venice at Valle, from the team behind nearby acclaimed Gjelina and Gjusta. It offers outdoor dining on multiple levels in the striking former MTN space on Abbot Kinney Boulevard. Consider vegetarian and cecina tlayudas with grilled nopales, quesillo, cabbage, coco bean paste and heirloom tomato; squash blossom quesadillas with quesillo and epazote; roasted cauliflower with vegan mole; and, to stay or to go, family-style barbacoa.

Chefs Vartan Abgaryan (Yours Truly) and Mesraim Llanez (Guerrilla Tacos) launch Nueva cantina near the end of Abbot Kinney in Marina del Rey, offering contemporary Mexican fare in a space designed by restaurateur Jared Meisler. Highlights: hamachi and uni with local citrus, charred peanuts and fresno chile, above; Mediterranean octopus tacos; and yellow corn mole with roasted squash, squash puree and summer succotash. The colorful patio is landscaped with agave, anthurium, ginger and palms. Alt agaves, such as sotol, star in several cocktails by Adam Fournier (NoMad).

Alan and Heidi Jackson unveil Bull & Butterfly, a contemporary Cal-Baja steakhouse at the Runway center in Playa Vista. Ben Ford (Ford’s Filling Station) conceived the menu; chef Robbie Nowlin, previously of Otium downtown, executes it. Dishes celebrate the region’s ranching roots from Paso Robles to the Guadalupe Valley with ember-cooking, spit-roasting and charcoal-broiling. Among those: ember-roasted sweet potato with mole verde, lime crèma and Oaxacan peanuts; spit-roasted chicken with sweet lemon, fennel and lentil-bread salad; and asada-style cap of rib-eye. Dining is on a plant-adorned patio with string-light gazebos.