TV Restaurants

What Happened to Mo-Chica After Best Thing I Ever Ate? (Los Angeles, CA)

Best Thing I Ever Ate, Season 4 Los Angeles, California

Current status

Closed

As of October 2026, Mo-Chica has closed — confirmed via Yelp, May 2026.

What the source shows: Yelp's Mo-Chica listing, updated May 2026, marks the restaurant permanently closed, and LA Magazine reports chef Ricardo Zarate left Los Angeles after shuttering his restaurants, including Mo-Chica. How we decide a status →

What happened after Best Thing I Ever Ate?

On Best Thing I Ever Ate's "Nutty" episode, Giada De Laurentiis picked Mo-Chica's aji de gallina, a Peruvian shredded chicken dish in a spiced walnut sauce, and also noted chef Ricardo Zarate's picarones, sweet-potato-and-squash beignets, as a favorite comfort food. Mo-Chica was a Peruvian restaurant at 514 West 7th Street in downtown Los Angeles, chef Ricardo Zarate's first solo restaurant, opened in the summer of 2009 inside Mercado La Paloma before relocating downtown; Mo-Chica and Zarate's later restaurant Picca were both named to LA Weekly's list of essential Los Angeles restaurants. Yelp's Mo-Chica listing, updated May 2026, marks the business permanently closed. LA Magazine reports that Zarate left the Los Angeles restaurant scene after shuttering his restaurants, later returning to the city with a new spot, The Hummingbird, in Echo Park.

The episode Best Thing I Ever Ate, Season 4

Episode 3
Air date not confirmed
Title: Nutty · What was featured: Aji de gallina, a shredded chicken and walnut dish

Also in Season 4 Best Thing I Ever Ate

Season 4: 60 of 102 still open · 3 renamed, moved or under new owners

All 13 Season 4 episodes →

Nearest open restaurants By distance from 514 W 7th St

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Before you go: Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.

Sources we checked 3 references

  1. Yelp https://www.yelp.com/biz/mo-chica-los-angeles-2
  2. lamag.com https://lamag.com/dining/heck-happened-ricardo-zarate/
  3. foodnetwork.com https://www.foodnetwork.com/restaurants/ca/los-angeles/mo-chica-contemporary-peruvian-restaurant-restaurant
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Record btiea-0317 · checked by Cal Marchetti.