Butterfly – Culver City

Washington DC’s award-winning Oyamel Cocina Mexicana is unquestionably one of the country’s best Mexican restaurants, offering a robust combination of authentic small plates, tacos, soups, and beverages that would certainly pass muster in Mexico. Seizing the opportunity to reimagine the restaurants at Culver City’s boutique hotel The Shay, chef José Andrés launched two concepts in 2024: a distillation of Oyamel called Butterfly on the sixth-floor rooftop, and Turkish/Mediterranean restaurant Zaytinya on the first floor.

The Culver City version of Butterfly is inspired by previous DC-area experiments with the same name and concept, effectively bringing a quarter of Oyamel’s recipes into a smaller space – this time, next to The Shay’s rooftop pool, similar to Airlight at the Conrad Hotel. That means you can choose from four types of tacos, four ceviches, two salads, five small plates, and several chip-and-salsa plates, plus one dessert. On our first visit in 2024, we ordered all of the tacos and ceviches, plus two of the small plates and drinks. Returning in early 2026, we were surprised to find little changed on the menu, and wound up sampling mostly similar items, plus queso fundido.

For the limited items it serves, Butterfly’s culinary execution has ranged from roughly 80% to 90% of Oyamel at its best: classic dishes such as the Atun Pacifico ceviche, made with tuna, pecans, and amaranth, leaned a little salty and low on that uniquely crispy grain, but otherwise good, while bass, shrimp, and coconut ceviches were all delicious – the latter borrowed from Andrés’ DC restaurant China Chilcano. By the time we made our second visit, only the tuna and coconut ceviches were available. On both visits, tacos arrived fresh, hot, and plump enough with their signature ingredients (adobo chicken, crispy rockfish, confit pork, or wild mushrooms) to be worthy of their individual $7 to $9 asking prices, though blue corn tortillas had given way to regular ones by early 2026.