Mercado La Paloma might be the best place to eat in LA. It captures exactly what it means to eat in LA. Drive to a random place in the middle of seemingly nowhere. Deal with either street parking or a sometimes valet lot situation. See a queue out the door leading into, well, a food court. This isn’t a fancy “food hall” of the 2010s. The yellow and blue color blocked building was once a garment factory and now a community space and food destination. Inside, tiled tables and wooden chairs fill the space that evokes the energy of a Mexican mercado but dialed down chaos. There’s six restaurants, headlined by the Michelin recognized Holbox that is the source of that line you saw coming in. But we’re here for Komal. A sunny corner of the mercado that is dedicated to nixtamalized corn.

Founders Fátima Juárez and Conrado Rivera, both alumni of Holbox, created Komal as a commitment to celebrating Mexican heirloom corn and supporting small farming communities. It is first a molino, and then a kitchen. And how lucky we are that they created the kitchen, with masa-based dishes inspired by street and market food of Mexico City and Oaxaca. The corn is nixtamalized on site into the foundational masa of the menu. From tlacoyos to flautas, quesadillas to cuchitos, it’s enough to convince you that corn is the superior grain.