The Hot 10: Bäco Mercat

(guitar music)

I'm Joseph Centeno, chef at Bäco Mercat

restaurant in downtown Los Angeles

in the old bank district.

For me, when I was gonna open up

my first solo project, I wanted a restaurant

that had a lot of architectural character.

As you can see, like, the storefront

the glass, the brass, all of this was pre-existing.

I just cleaned it up as much as I could.

I had to go in to the whole project

as frugal and ready to do whatever I had to do

to get this place open.

I found the chairs, that I got for a great deal

from a restaurant that just closed.

The floors I stained and painted.

There was actually a point when

the contractor was

kind of putting pressure on me to finish

because I was holding up the job.

We have this amazing storefront,

and after the first month of opening

I realized that they needed to be washed again,

and so that kind of started,

just my every couple week routine

of doing the window washing,

because it saves money.

We grind our own meat, break down as much

of the pork and poultry

and beef that we get in.

I mean I didn't think of it as anything

other than just being what we do.

I wanted a menu where you could come in

and spend 10, $15 and be out the door,

or come in and have a dining experience.

As the kitchen got stronger and

as business improved we saw that we could grow more.

Everyday is like a new performance.

Anybody who comes in who's been here,

or is coming for the first time,

you gotta be consistent, or you gotta hope

that they've enjoyed it enough to come back.