Highland Park Legendary Restaurant El Arco Iris is now a French/Filipino Restaurant
Earlier this year, Highland Park’s longstanding restaurant El Arco Iris closed its doors for good, and now a new French/Filipino restaurant named Partido is moving in, operating as a weekend-only pop-up for the foreseeable future. There was nothing nefarious about this Highland Park shutter — the Montes/Gomez families behind the 53-year-old icon simply wanted to move on to other projects, leaving room for a big new tenant to tackle a big, old space.
My favorite dish from El Arco Iris, which is “The Rainbow” in Spanish, was their chicken mole. Mole (pronounced MOL-ay) refers to a number of sauces made in Mexico, the most famous of which are a combination of a variety of chilis and chocolate. Since many mole sauces also contain chicken broth, pouring the sauce over chicken is ideal. Chicken mole can refer to any chicken topped with a mole sauce, or it may specifically refer to Mole Poblano: Pollo con Arroz (chicken with rice).
I’m not a big fan of chicken on the bone, and they always served me grilled chicken breast over rice with their signature spices chocolate mole sauce poured over it without grumbling or charging me extra. I always appreciated that.
The new tenant is Partido, which comes by way of chef Lynne Tolentino and a trio of developers from CODA Equities. They’re the owners of the building, and have now come onboard as partners in the project as well. Tolentino comes to Partido from Superba Food & Bread, where she has been the chef de cuisine, and prior to that spent time in kitchens at Providence, Patina, and elsewhere.
Partido promises to marry Tolentino’s French-influenced background with her own Filipino heritage to create a dinner-only eatery with room for a full bar. The space has been quietly getting a touch-up since earlier this year, and should be ready to start serving to the public on July 26, with dinner hours running 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday only. The CODA team is still in talks regarding a possible full-time long-term tenant for the property.
Partido
5684 York Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA
