Casa Leo – LA

There aren’t enough authentic Spanish tapas restaurants in Southern California, and far fewer great ones – Telefèric Barcelona is the best we’ve found in Los Angeles County, and will have opened its first Orange County location by the time most people read this. For whatever reason, America’s godfather of Spanish cooking, José Andrés, hasn’t yet opened a traditional tapas restaurant anywhere in California, and his prior leads from Beverly Hills’ avant-garde, now-defunct Bazaar have instead launched non-tapas experiences inside and outside his restaurant group: Somni, San Laurel, and Zaytinya Culver City. In late June 2025, former head Bazaar chef Joshua Whigham became the exception, launching the roughly 60-seat Casa Leo in LA’s Los Feliz neighborhood.

Offering dinner six nights a week and a substantially similar brunch menu on weekends, Casa Leo serves a compact collection of Spanish tapas and Catalan-inspired coca flatbreads, substantially Spanish wines, and surprisingly no cocktails. Like Casa Teresa, a Washington DC tapas restaurant opened by another former Andrés lead, Casa Leo is not trying to ape Andrés’s all-things-Spanish Jaleo – this is a cozier, quieter, family-sized space. But unlike Teresa, Leo has already scored a place (note: not a star) in the Michelin Guide, no easy feat after less than a year of operation.

Despite the gorgeously olive oiled and vinegared tuna crudo shown above, which could as easily have come from the Las Vegas location of Bazaar Mar, Casa Leo does not generally attempt to wow on plating. With the exception of a delicate and surprisingly substantial trout in escabeche dish nodding vaguely to famed Basque chef Martin Berasategui ($29) – salted and cooked so perfectly that its gentle scales resembled tiny mosaic tiles – tapas, proteins, and cocas alike relied on strong flavors and rustic charm to win favor. The seasonal gazpacho ($10) on our visit was a nice glass of tart and sweet strawberry, so pink and finely pureed that it might pass for a lightly savory smoothie, and like the pan con tomate and pan con manchego ($10), powered up with fresh, rich tomato. Leo’s cheese triangles and thin, lightly toasted bread were spot-on for these traditional items, each well-paired with two ounces of imported jamon iberico ($36), which was properly sliced, served at the right temperature, and not artificially oiled.

Our only complaint at lunch time – and one remedied somewhat by the slightly larger dinner menu – was Casa Leo’s short list of tapas options, which we quickly exhausted on a single visit. A bowl of gambas al ajillo ($21), seven garlic oiled and paprika-dusted shrimp, was over before it began; so too was an atypically personal pan-sized circular tortilla española ($17), which delivered expected egg and potato flavors in a lighter, fluffier omelet-like form. The restaurant also offers a limited supply “Paella Drop” at noon one Sunday each month, typically late in the month, but it was rescheduled to be earlier for Mother’s Day, and not available during the Sunday lunch when we visited.