Since opening in the summer of 2023, Xuntos has become a neighborhood destination for Spanish food in downtown Santa Monica. A wall of scallop shells anchors chef Sandra Cordero’s pink-hued dining room, a playful setting for tinned seafood and jamón ibérico. “We really want to transport people to Spain,” says Cordero. “All of it. The food, the feeling. That’s what we try to achieve with everything we do.”
Xuntos is built as much around hospitality as it is around food. Cordero designed it as a place where guests could linger over dinner with natural wine or vermouth on the rocks. “We definitely want to be that neighborhood place where people can just stop by a few times a week,” she explains.
Paella is notably absent from the menu. Instead, Xuntos focuses on seafood-forward cooking from Galicia and other regions of northern Spain. “I wanted to introduce people to a different style of Spanish food and eating that’s much lesser-known in LA,” says Cordero.
The menu changes with the seasons and reflects what Cordero finds each Wednesday at the Downtown Santa Monica Farmers Market. “What I really love about Spanish cuisine is that so much of it is really ingredient-driven,” she says. “It’s all about getting really good produce and proteins, honoring restraint, and letting them shine.” Dishes such as soft-shell crab and percebes, or gooseneck barnacles, come and go, while recurring favorites include pulpo a la gallega, gambas al ajillo, and tortilla española, which regularly sells out.
