Chef Josef Centeno leaving Echo Park’s Lot 1

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Anyone wanting a ‘baco’ fix best get themselves over to Echo Park’s Lot 1 before closing on Thursday night, which will be chef Josef Centeno’s last night behind the stoves. Centeno and the restaurant’s owner Eileen Leslie are parting ways.

Centeno, previously at Opus at Wilshire and Western, has drawn favorable attention from Los Angeles restaurant journalists since Lot 1 opened in early May with him in the kitchen. The chef said via cellphone this afternoon that he wants to open his own restaurant, but not anytime soon. ‘I’m going underground,’ said Centeno. ‘I’m not going to cook for a while.’

Lot 1, 1533 W. Sunset Blvd., Echo Park, (213) 481-8400.

-- Amy Scattergood