TV Restaurants

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

Closed verified

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

Primary source
Yelp ·
Secondary source
lamag.com

Last verified

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.

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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.

Featured on Best Thing I Ever Ate

Season / episode
Season 4, Episode 3
Original air date
Not confirmed
Episode title
Nutty
What was featured
Aji de gallina, a shredded chicken and walnut dish
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Mo-Chica

Frequently asked questions

Is Mo-Chica still open in 2026?

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

What happened to Mo-Chica 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. As of September 2026, Mo-Chica has closed — confirmed via Yelp, May 2026.

Is Mo-Chica permanently closed?

As of September 2026, Mo-Chica has closed — confirmed via Yelp, May 2026. We publish a closure only with a dated source behind it, and we say plainly when it has not been independently confirmed.

Where is Mo-Chica located?

514 W 7th St, Los Angeles, CA 90014. That is the address on the record as of September 7, 2026.

What season and episode of Best Thing I Ever Ate featured Mo-Chica?

Season 4, Episode 3 of Best Thing I Ever Ate. The episode is titled “Nutty”.

Every status on this site carries a confidence label and a date, and names the source it rests on. Read the Editorial & Corrections Policy for what each label means and how quickly we act on corrections. The questions above are generated from this record's own published fields — we never publish a question we cannot answer from the data.

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Visit info

Address
514 W 7th St, Los Angeles, CA 90014
Venue type
restaurant
Official website
None found

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

  • Yelp — https://www.yelp.com/biz/mo-chica-los-angeles-2
  • lamag.com — https://lamag.com/dining/heck-happened-ricardo-zarate/
  • foodnetwork.com — https://www.foodnetwork.com/restaurants/ca/los-angeles/mo-chica-contemporary-peruvian-restaurant-restaurant

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Record btiea-0317 · last verified .