What we’re into: Free popcorn that tastes like Doritos from Westbound in the downtown Arts District

There are snacks you munch on between meals when you’re bored, and then there are snacks you inhale. The free popcorn at Westbound, a new bar and restaurant that opened in early May at the One Santa Fe complex in the downtown Los Angeles Arts District, is a snack you inhale.

When you sit down at one of the small tables adjacent the bar area, a server will promptly bring you a small bowl of popcorn and let you know “it’s supposed to taste like Doritos.”

The popped kernels are stark white instead of the DayGlo orange you may associate with the chips. And they taste like tart and tangy nuggets of the crumbs at the bottom of a bag of really good salt and vinegar chips. That’s because executive chef Gary Nguyen, who used to work at the noted L.A. restaurants Alma and Melisse, dresses his kernels with distilled vinegar powder, onion powder, garlic powder and salt. And if you haven’t guessed by now, they’re supposed to taste like Cool Ranch Doritos — not the nacho cheese kind.

Nguyen also blanches the popcorn in the fryer, after he pops it, to draw out any excess moisture. The kernels are super crunchy, salty, just straightforward enough and really addictive.

This is what you’re supposed to snack on while you wait for your cocktail — maybe La Remedia, one of head bartender Dee Ann Quinone’s concoctions made with Rutte gin, watermelon, grapefruit, lemon, lime, pink peppercorn and sea salt. And it’s an amuse-bouche to Nguyen’s beautifully plated dishes (most include artfully placed edible flowers) — maybe the New Zealand Tai snapper ceviche with pickled serrano, basil, coconut, balsamic anchovies and crispy shallot.

With all the edible flowers, fancy cocktails and distilled vinegar powder on the table, you may feel the need to call your bowl of free popcorn “gourmet popcorn.” Please don’t. By the third bowl — there will be a third bowl — it will start to ruin your appetite. Let it. There are worse things than inhaling really good free popcorn for dinner.

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