After a year-and-a-half of nixtamalizing corn and making masa in a tight backroom at Michelin-starred Holbox, chef Fátima Juárez and her partner in life and business Conrado Rivera are setting out on their own to open Komal Molino on September 25, 2024. The newest stall at Mercado La Paloma is a love letter to the pre-Hispanic dishes Juárez grew up eating in Mexico City and Oaxaca, made with Indigenous corn sourced directly from farmers in Mexico and then nixtamalized on-site.

Komal Molino was born while Juárez and Rivera were still working at Holbox, when chef Gilberto Cetina offered a room in the back for Juárez to nixtamalize corn and turn it into masa. “So at the same time Gilberto was our boss, he was our best customer,” Rivera says. “We created that relationship based on trust.” Juárez distinctly remembers people coming up to her the first time she started processing maize to say that the smell brought them back to their own childhood memories. Once the masa side gig grew enough to be its own sustainable business, Juárez and Rivera began to consider the possibility of taking the project out of the spare room and building a restaurant around it.

Komal Molino will open with a daytime menu, with plans to expand into an evening tasting menu later. The opening menu takes cues from Juárez’s upbringing in Mexico City by reinterpreting the street food she grew up eating, including antojitos, quesadillas, dessert, and molino with masa available by the pound, handmade tortillas, and even tostadas raspados by pre-order only.

Under the antojitos sections, molotes de platano (fried plantain balls) come enrobed in a rich Oaxacan-style mole with cheese inside, while the tender oval-shaped tlacoyos are stuffed with ayocote beans and topped with cactus, queso fresco, and salsa verde. The plate-sized Taco Sonia comes on a tender blue corn tortilla topped with beef shoulder, housemade pork chorizo, and mashed potatoes or cactus. The taco takes its name from Juárez’s favorite tacos in Mexico City; she remembers her mother and grandmother grasping her hands on either side of her as they navigated across a busy street in Mexico City to seek out Sonia, the taco-maker who was often stationed behind a bridge. “This is very important for me because I remember my family,” Juárez says. Eating these tacos at five years old is one of Juárez’s earliest memories of food.

The quesadilla section features four varieties: flor de calabaza with sweet corn sofrito and vibrant squash blossoms, hongos with oyster mushrooms, papa with mashed potatoes, and guisado with pork chorizo. Each comes with a slightly crisped tortilla and a generous filling of melted Oaxacan cheese that becomes tangled with the ingredients, lending a pleasant saltiness to each bite.

A rich, yet light, slice of pan de calabaza (squash bread) topped with sour cream is available for dessert. The recipe comes from Juárez’s family and offers another taste of her upbringing in Mexico City. A tight list of beverages includes agua de nopal with cactus and cucumber, glass bottled Boing, Topo Chico, and Mexican Coke.

Juárez hopes her cooking at Komal Molino will be able to represent the food she grew up with and offer guests a taste of products that aren’t as widely available in America. Part of that process has been trips back and forth to Mexico to build relationships with corn farmers and set up sourcing channels that will allow the restaurant to acquire their corn at a fair rate. “She is not only committed to cooking good food, but to supporting the families that produce the corn,” Rivera says. Multiple types of maize will be utilized at Komal, each with their own slightly different flavor profile.

Although the opening of Komal Molino means that Juárez and Rivera won’t be working at Holbox anymore, Cetina says he’ll look on with pride from 50 or so feet away on the other side of the Mercado. “I couldn’t be prouder of both Fatima and Conrado for taking this bold step in their careers by branching out into their own venture, even though it’s a tremendous loss for Holbox,” Cetina says in an email to Eater LA. “Chef Fatima’s food is a true reflection of her Oaxacan roots, her soul, and her remarkable journey as an immigrant, female, and Mexican chef.”

Komal Molino is located at 3655 S. Grand Ave # 280, Los Angeles, CA 90007 in Mercado La Paloma. It’s set to open at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, September 25, and will hold hours from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday.