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Corazón y Miel, the passion project of Animal alumnus Eduardo Ruiz with partners Travis Hoffacker and Robin Chopra, opened in Bell this past Saturday. Partially inspired by a stint at Diego Hernandez's Corazón de Tierra in Baja, Ruiz named the restaurant "Heart and Honey" in Spanish, extending the trio's vision into a restaurant space originally intended strictly to expand their catering outfit, which developed through underground dinners in Chopra's apartment. With bright flavors and serious chops, the chefs are merging the kind of heavy-duty dude food made famous locally by chefs like Jon and Vinny with a panoply of Latin ingredients and traditional techniques (think mescal-marinated beef, lamb burgers on cemita buns, force-meat carnitas, queso fundido pizza) though the chef's Salvadoran background also shines through in an abundance of pickled items and an excellent whole turkey leg sandwich inspired by his grandma's cooking.

The restaurant carries local brews on tap, as well as cocktails prepared by La Jolla local and UCLA water polo stud Christian Pulido. Overall, the effects are pretty awesome. Take a look for yourself in our slideshow exploration of the menu at Corazón y Miel.

Córazon y Miel, 6626 Atlantic Ave. Bell; 323-560-1776.