DOWNEY — Chilaquiles, pink neon and Chanel logo lattes are what has created a social media buzz for Le Coco, a European-inspired restaurant with a menu filled with Latin flavor.

Initially opened as a gelato ice cream bar on July 27 2021, Le Coco, located at 11901 Lakewood Blvd. in Downey, has evolved into a restaurant that offers mimosas, French-inspired desserts and Mexican cuisine.

Owners Diana Valencia and Marlon ‘Tony’ Ramos modeled the restaurant after cafes in Europe.

“When we started looking for the place, we were just going to get any retail space, not with a kitchen, so we went to shopping centers to choose a place to just have the sink and the fridge for the gelato and then we found this and it has a huge kitchen, everything was there so I told my husband, ‘You know what, let’s start selling aguachiles and chilaquiles estilo df, there’s none around here,’” said Valencia.

“Since Mexico City is not as well known as other states in Mexico, I wanted to bring that here to the restaurant. That’s why we decided to add a couple dishes to the menu because we had the kitchen. We didn’t plan it, it was meant to be.”

The name of the restaurant is in homage to French fashion designer Coco Chanel, who Valencia idolized since she was a little girl.

Originally from Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Valencia knows firsthand how difficult it is to run a business, and has been balancing life, family and work since she was 16, when she came to the United States.

“No one opens a business to fail, everybody opens a business to succeed, to grow, especially in this country,” said Valencia. “[Latinos] don’t want you to succeed, they don’t want you to do good, they want you to do good but they don’t want you to do better than them so that’s why a lot of Latinos are scared to fail.”

“Women are scared to fail, I don’t have documents, I am illegal in this country, I am still fixing my situation, no one can stop you from whatever you have to do. We’re blessed and when you are blessed and do good things to other people then God is going to reward you with the good things,” said Valencia.

Over the course of two months, the wife and husband team adorned the walls of Le Coco with artificial roses in various shades of pink, lavender parasols hanging from the ceiling and crystal chandeliers draped in flowers.

It’s this feminine aesthetic that has created a backdrop for TikTok videos and Instagram posts for predominantly women wanting a quaint yet cute place to have brunch with friends.

As a result of these social media posts, some diners have traveled several hours to dine and create social media posts of their own at Le Coco.

Connie Ramirez noticed the restaurant when it was initially still in the process of renovation and was intrigued to visit Le Coco once doors were opened.

“My husband and I both live in Downey and we were driving by on Lakewood and we just noticed [Le Coco,] I guess it was just being setting up,” said Ramirez. “I just looked it up on Instagram and I was just thinking ‘oh that looks super cute, I want to try that sometime, I love how girly it looks.’”

Valencia added: “It gives me chills, it was two weeks ago when they came all the way from Palmdale and that day we were going to close at 3 pm and she came at 3:05 and she was like, ‘Oh my God, I drove two hours, all the way from Palmdale.’ and I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m so sorry the kitchen is closed.’

“We gave her some drinks and we were like, ‘you drove two hours’ and she was like ‘yes, we drove two hours, we saw you on Instagram and we wanted to try the chilaquiles’ but yeah it feels good, yesterday, there’s a client that came from Canada and they saw it Instagram and came to see the place.”

Le Coco is open from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Sunday.

Valencia said she has seen success with Le Coco, “not because of the amount of people that come, it’s because this place is full of love and when you do something with love you are gonna have good rewards and people are going to love you because this is not just a place where you are going to come and treat yourself.

“We’re treating everybody the same way and we love our clients, especially our local clients from Downey, we have people that come almost every day, every other week, every weekend.”

French-inspired Le Coco a hit on social media