Taco Maria

I would give this place 6 stars if I could. I think I could die now because I’m pretty sure I ate the best meal of my life.
We tried everything on the menu between the two of us. Some things were better than others but nothing was bad or mediocre. All of it was good. Every dang dish!
I think that the carrot shrimp with aguachile thing was my favorite. It sounded interesting but I can’t adequately describe all the complexity of the flavors. I can say that it was distinct, fresh and bright all while being pleasantly spicy. The wine pairing perfectly cooled down the heat.
Speaking of wine, my wife prefers red and the sommelier accommodated her with some adjustments to the standard pairing which exceeded expectations.
They’re also very sensitive about food allergies and intolerances. They asked me about it when I made the reservation and again when I arrived. The waitress made some specialized modifications to a few of the dishes to accommodate me.
My only gripe was the chairs. I’m a designer and the chairs are meant for outdoor sunbathing, not dining. The pitch is too far back so you can’t sit up straight n then your booty hits the back end of the seat. I don’t have any cushion back there so after our 3 hour meal, my booty kinda hurt. I did mention it and they said they are working on changing the chairs.
I was really impressed with the quality of the food and the high service standards. I can’t think of another place that I’d rather eat right now.

Oh my. What a experience. It was a set menu and we went with the wine pairing.
Everything was amazing. I normally do not like to try new things — especially foods that I can’t recognize or pronounce — but I went with it and I’m so happy I did.
There wasn’t anything I didn’t like.
Thank you for opening my eyes.

My only reason for the 4 and not 5 star review is that it’s so hard to get in! I was so lucky that I found a spot at the counter a shortly after they open, around 11:45am, a few Saturdays ago, and if you are alone or with one other person, I recommend the view of the wee kitchen from there. I enjoyed watching the chefs prepare the meals, the handmade blue-​corn tortillas and especially the caesar salad — I’m definitely ordering that the next time! My fish taco and mushroom taco plate was just so delicious, I cannot wait to bring friends here. Their vegetarian options are minimal, the mushroom taco might be one of two items without meat or fish, but I thought that mushroom taco was just divine.
The inside of the OC MIx dining room is very small, but the patio does help add more tables if you want to eat outside.

Definitely worth the try. I highly recommend their hanger steak & Pollo tacos. Came here for lunch so the wait wasn’t bad but reservation is highly recommended if you are going for dinner. Dinner menu is a set menu so check before going. Picture is Hanger steak and a Fish Taco.

Have been wanting to try to place for sometime now, and ended going last Saturday with a group of friends. Since they don’t take reservations for lunch or brunch, we had to queue up for a table. For many of us, we skipped breakfast, so by the time we had all arrived at 12:30pm, we were hungry. We expected that there would be a wait for a table since Taco Maria is on the smaller side. Since the hostess indicated that it would only be a few minutes of waiting, we inquired about oyur table after waiting for about 10 mins. Hostess told us it would be a few minutes more as the staff is setting up our table. Having said that, we were perturbed that after another 10 minutes went by and still no table. So, we inquired again. Again, the hostess said that the staff is setting up our table, and it would a few minutes. We ended up wating from 12:30pm to 1:15pm. I’d rather the hostess had not told us that the table was being set up each time we inquired because that only added to the anticipation. Had she sait it would be another 15 or 20 minutes, then we would have known what to expect and waited more patiently.
However, the food at Taco Maria is delicicous, especially the aguachile (scallops were refreshing, bright). We tried 4 of the 5 tacos on the menu (opted not to get the chicken mole taco). Of the 4, the clear stand outs were the pork belly taco and the taco made with hangar steak and bacon. The thick slice of seared pork belly just melts in your mouth.
One can debate as to whether or not their tacos (plate of 2) costs about $ 13 to $ 17 per order. The tacos are quite big, and you can easily notice that they’re using quality ingredients.
Service was quite good here. I will come back and try their tasting dinners in the evening. I was told it’s quite different from lunch — a much better culinary experience.

I want to jump the gun and give this place a full five stars, but I’d like to come back and try their dinner menu. My boss and I stopped by Taco Maria on a whim after a meeting in Irvine and I had no idea what to expect. You definitely know a place is good when it’s a Wednesday afternoon at 1:30PM and there’s a 20 minute wait for two. Luckily, two seats opened up right in front of the kitchen — where you can watch the magic happen. AKA where I drooled over the steak being grilled not even 20 feet away from me.
Customer service is always a huge selling point at a restaurant for me and Taco Maria definitely did not disappoint. Cheery smiles and attitudes were all around and it made me feel so welcome.
We shared a delicious appetizer with broccoli and chorizo that was drizzled in a sauce that had a small kick to it. There was a touch of sliced almonds added to it that gave it a wonderful texture. The overall flavor was rich — in a good way — it was an explosion of flavor!
Aside from the appetizer, I had two tacos:
Mole de Pollo — jidori chicken with ancho-​almond-​mole, questo fresco, onion pickle, on top of a fresh handmade tortilla! The chicken was beautifully cooked and the flavors all worked so well with each other. Again, with the sliced almonds, but again, a wonderful touch.
Arrachera — the hanger steak taco had roasted chilies, applewood bacon (yum), and queso fundido — I have this problem where my taco can never stay put and always falls apart at some point, but man, this taco was great altogether, as well as piece by piece.
I also ordered the mango-​cylon (?) tea which was overly sweet, but I didn’t mind too much and was just going to let the ice melt and water it down a bit, but another patron requested another glass, complaining that it was too sweet for them, so my waiter came by and asked if mine was too sweet for me and said he’d happily replace the glass with a new one. A+! I will definitely be back after such a great experience here.

Talk about the hype in the trendy corner of OC. We waited for over an hour for a table of 7, while plenty of couples who arrived later were seated ahead of us. I would have left for some place else but the group decided to stay.
I was expecting the food to be good, but was I disappointed. We tried 5 out of the 8 dishes offered. None of them I would say is memorable. I did not even try to remember the names because there isn’t any point.
The price of the dishes we ordered ranges from $ 12-​$ 17 which is pricey for 2 slim tacos. Basically I need to order 2 dishes and that did not fill me up. It is equivalent to a 500 calorie salad at El Pollo Loco and the meal cost $ 27 without a drink. This is not cheap and cheerful but rather expensive and dreadful. Well, lots of other people seem to like it and are willing to pay the price.

Over the years, I’ve come to believe that the best piece of advice for going into any food adventure is this: carry low to no expectations.
In the case of Taco Maria, I’ve failed dramatically in following my own advice. And as a result, I’ve come out of this experience with a 2.5-star rating.
R-​E-​S-​E-​R-​V-​A-​T-​I-​O-​N. Do you even know what this word means, Taco Maria? Evidently not, as my party of 3 arrived 10 minutes early at 7:05 PM only to be told that we were too early and that a table wasn’t ready yet. That’s fair, I suppose. But when 7:15 PM rolled around, what happened? People got seated… just not my people. 25 minutes later when we were all about ready to leave for some steam kettle cooking goodness at Ritter’s, I hear my name being called. Are you fucking kidding me? «Reservation» means that we should have gotten seated at 7:15 (7:20 max), not at 7:40. If other (smaller) restaurants can successfully manage a reservation system, then so can you. Get your shit together, TM.
Onto the eats. The food, while flavorful and at times complex, fell somewhat short of expectations.
Aguachile: Buttery slices of scallop soaking in a spicy cucumber citrus liquid. The acidic sourness was unexpected and pucker-​worthy, but what really made this dish so memorable was the very strong element of sweetness that cut through everything. I imagine this unique sweet-​and-​sour sensation is akin to what people feel when they try Sichuan peppercorns for the first time and subsequently experience that mala feeling. Very distinct, nothing else quite like it. Not a dish that I would necessarily order again, but it’s one that I’m glad to have tried.
Mix-​and-​match tacos: I believe that first impressions matter tremendously when it comes to food, so I went big and ordered 4 different tacos. Jardineros, Pescado Frito, Arrachera, and Carnitas. First impressions?
— Jardineros: Skip unless you like big waxy chunks of potato. The mushroom chorizo was perfect, but this taco as a whole was a disappointment.
— Pescado Frito: Probably my favorite of the night. And that’s a little sad, as I’m not even really into fish tacos. The Pescado Frito was well-​executed and had the most balanced, complementary flavors out of all of the tacos that I sampled.
— Arrachera: The texture of the steak was soft and tender, but I felt that the flavors presented were very underwhelming. If I had ordered just a plate of 2 steak tacos for $ 17 and called it a night, I would have left here pretty angrily.
— Carnitas: Okay, I love carnitas. Pork, in my opinion, is the best meat in the world. So versatile, so flavorful, so fatty and delicious and orgasmically good. Out of their entire menu, I was most looking forward to trying out TM’s rendition of a carnitas taco. It’s just unfortunate that I came in with my own set of expectations of what carnitas should be. Let’s just say that if you’re expecting something along the lines of El Toro Carniceria, then you need to readjust your expectations. The carnitas here was served sweet. And while I thought the execution was fine, TM’s version was simply not my style.
Overall, the entire experience fell pretty flat (especially on the service front). Perhaps Mexican food in my mind is unfairly confined to the realm of $ 1 – 2 street tacos and gigantic cups of agua fresca. It’s just difficult to justify dropping $ 50+ on 4 tacos and a single appetizer. I mean, I’m always up for paying the big bucks for food that tastes amazing; I just happened to leave Taco Maria unimpressed.

Wow. Really enjoyed this meal. Wine pairings were superb. Two favorite dishes:
— seared scallop with oaxacan cheese, black squid ink crumbs and ancho chile
— succulent braised bacon with hot blue corn tortillas and fresh avocado.
Both were exceptional.

I thought we had good tacos in LA until I came here. Now I realize we only have mediocre tacos because nothing is better than Taco Maria. First off the tortillas are gorgeous. I’ve never seen such a vibrant blue tortilla, one that’s also soft and so flavorful. We had the Mole de Pollo and also the Jardineros tacos, which had shiitake mushroom chorizo, crispy potato and queso fundido. So much flavor! I will forever compare all tacos to these. It’s ruined me. This and a couple of beers and we were so damn happy. I can’t wait to introduce other people to this place!

Weeknight dinner at Taco Maria at 830 PM and the place was about two-​thirds full. Seated without wait or reservations (seating available at the kitchen bar, inside, and on the patio). The restaurant is at the OC Mix and is small with the majority of the seating in the patio area. On Wednesday through Saturday nights, Taco Maria only serves a four-​course tasting menu for $ 75. You have a choice of two options for each course. Atmosphere is quiet and nice, but relatively casual. Service was great and attentive. The food had strong flavors but with subtle notes. Each course is small except for the last one. Even though it’s a tasting menu, some of the courses could have been more generous. Taco Maria is definitely on a different level than the standard nice Mexican restaurant. Did it live up to the hype? meh… but I’m glad I went!
Course 0: amuse bouche (trio of raw fish on nori, pickled root veggie, and fried trotters). Nice start to the meal.
Course 1: Dungeness crab terrine (with avocado, pomelo, watercress, and coriander). 4/​5, refreshing and flavorful. The crab tasted fresh and balanced nicely with the watercress. The avocado also worked well to bind the dish.
Course 2: Scallop gratin (with queso menonita, squid ink crumbs, and chile ancho). ⁴⁄₅. Good balance between the sweetness of the scallops, the heat, saltiness of the cheese, and slight bitterness from the crumbs. Although the cheese and heat provided good flavor, they made the scallops an afterthought.
Course 3: Pozole (with abalone, hominy, turnip, and lime). 3/​5, the soup had great lime flavor without being overly sour. It was essentially a broth with small bits of hominy, tendon, and abalone. The broth had depth but the course did not feel substantial.
Course 4: Duck with mole. 5/​5, the highlight of the meal. The duck was cooked well and the mole was awesome. Came with blue corn tortillas to make your own tacos, but the dish stood on its own.
LOL at having no dessert option at the end of the meal.
Parking: 5/​5, free and essentially unlimited parking (on a weekday night) in a safe area at the OC Mix.
Freeway accessibility: 5/​5, right off the 405; straight shot on and off the freeway.

Some chef creates n cooks better than others, this one definitely does.
Lots of subtle flavors layer into one simply described dish. Really appreciated them.
Aquachille: fresh, sweet, tender scallop in lime juice laced with sweet n spicy Serrano infusion. The microgreens and crunchy cucumber thins were sweet-​plant and refreshingly light. The Balsamic dots serve up an abstract art canvas.
Jardinero n Hanger steak taco combo:
Speechless, cause I was busy smiling a content grin. The meaty purple corn tortilla, (yes, meaty in texture n bite not in actually taste) topped with crunchy potato or hanger steak and other fantastic trimmings. I believe, the Jardinero won over the steak for me.
Black garlic n chili di Abo oil for enhancing any dish you like, will be better enjoyed with a cool Mango-​Celon cold brew ice tea. No accident or slight treatment on the oil making, cares and attentions were equally applied here. Fantastic!

The hype is real! Heard about this place from Chef Jason Quinn (Playground) so I knew it would be a winner even before coming! Tried the 3 course brunch menu ($ 36 a person). Everything was so immaculate — they really took the time to make sure every detail was on point before each dish was sent out.
I definitely recommend going and getting the opposite course from the other person so you guys can try everything!
Tip: it’s inside the hipster SOCO area. Make reservations because the place is tiny!

Ask any Chef in Orange County what their favorite restaurant is and Taco Maria is clearly on their TOP 5 list. I’ve bookmarked this SOCO | OC Mart Mix establishment for years now and finally got a chance to stop in and sample their prix-​fixed brunch menu on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Here’s what they’re cookin’ up at Taco Maria these days…
FIRST COURSE
Molletes with grilled bread, refried beans, queso fresco, salsa tatemada, huitlacoche butter. I know what you’re thinking… refried bean spread??? While the beans hardly look appetizing, one crunchy gooey bite later and you’ll be hooked y’all. The bread is just outta this world, crispy on the outside, warm and chewy on the inside. Their salsa spits hot fiyah and you definitely need a dollop to take this dish to the next level. Amazingly memorable.
or
Yogurt and Fruit with coconut-​poppy seed granola, yogurt mousse, cherimoya jam. Not yo’ mama’s yogurt parfait guys. The frothy milky whipped mousse is like biting into flavored air, so light, refreshing and perfectly anchored by the sweet yet tangy jam. Omg I could eat this every morning for breakfast. So delish!
SECOND COURSE
Anson Mills oatmeal with ember-​roasted strawberries, vanilla butter. While my diet has been low-​carbs for a minute now, I devoured this entire bowl in one lick. I never imagined I’d enjoy oatmeal so runny; however, now I feel like I’ve been making it wrong all these years! The gooey strawberries were the perfect complement with a hint of vanilla in every bite.
or
Meyer Lemon– Buttermilk Pancakes with whipped butter, winter citrus, thyme maple syrup. The pancakes were no larger than the palm of my hand, but the flavor was so densely packed you only need a tiny bite to determine the quality. Good, not great because all the other menu items outweighed this dish in ingenuity and flavor combos.
THIRD COURSE
Chilaquiles with crispy tortilla, chile cascabel, queso cotija, fried egg (choice of chicken, hanger steak, or mushroom chorizo). I tasted this dish with all 3 different proteins and my favorite would have to be the mushrooms. So earthy and rich in flavor, you could literally split this dish 4 ways and still be satisfied with just a few bites.
or
Huevos pescador with dungeness crab, toasted brioche, poached egg, avocado, and shellfish hollandaise. So rich and creamy, the eatable stems were the perfect accompaniment for this bright and fresh dish. Loved how the egg yolk just oozes over the entire plate, like bathing in sunlight! While my pick would be the chilaquiles over the pescador, it all comes down to preference.
You get your choice of 1 of each course with 3 courses for a total of $ 36pp.
Not bad for brunch but expect to be super full by the time you’re dunzo.
We even went one further and ordered the only 2 sides available for brunch:
Crispy potatoes, roasted onions, torreados, queso: Crispity, crunchity and well-​seasoned when typical cast-​iron skillet potatoes from nearby establishments are wayyyy too salty (ahem Arc!)
Twice-​cooked bacon with piloncillo glaze. So tender you can fork this stringy braise down and add it to your chilaquiles for the added texture. Dynamite.
Although we expected a full menu to dine from, this brunch teaser was enough for me to book another reservation for lunch or dinner. I hear their tacos are AH-​MAZINGGG! Voted 101 BEST Restaurants on Jonathan Gold’s LA Times list (it was actually #2 of #101)! Service was super attentive, the crowd was fairly chill so if you’re expecting a boisterous brunch, please note that you’ve gotta keep it down loves.
Definitely NOT easy for my fun bunch, but be forewarned so you don’t get stared down for the entire duration of your meal. I’d say a perfect date spot, group dining, notsomuch.
Bön Appétit mes amis!

Hanger steak tacos are very tasty with quality traditional ingredients and the tortillas are fresh. Aguachile was refreshing with great texture and a little kick. Really like this place, the taste is unique.
Very chill and easy going atmosphere.
Great attentive service.
In a great little shopping center with indoor/​outdoor seating. Tons of parking available in the shopping center lot.

I love high end Mexican cuisine with traditional ingredients & preparations combined with new flavor combinations, textures, and a high end experience. The difference is that Taco Maria is a very casual environment with an open kitchen where you can sit at the counter & watch, or at an inside table, or at some nice covered patio tables. Oh yeah, and there really aren’t tacos for dinner despite the name — for dinner you get a 4 course dinner for $ 75 and you have two options to choose between for each course (one of which was a smoked sturgeon taco on my visit). Excellent wine pairings are $ 35 and it’s really a pretty good deal in my mind, though for those who are looking for a casual taco joint or think all Mexican cuisine should be cheap you should probably dine elsewhere.
Everything was excellent and my amateur descriptions won’t do justice to the food but I had a scallop dish with many flavors including squid ink and ancho chile, fresh shrimp with carrots in a spicy broth (kind of reminded me of a re-​imagined ceviche flavor profile), smoked sturgeon taco, cheese-​stuffed blue corn masa, and duck with a dark mole. Every dish had about 10 ingredients and a lot of complex and unique flavors which generally worked well together plus the wine pairings were very well chosen. I found this on Jonathan Gold’s list of the 101 best restaurants in the Los Angeles metro area and it lived up to the hype. Very well done — even in the strange location in the middle of an outdoor shopping mall complex.

Celebrated being with my girlfriend for two years here. We each had completely opposite prix fixed menus to enable us to experience everything.
Only bad part is that we had a few too many drinks prior to arriving at other locations in the Mix. So we don’t recall dinner too well. But I know we had a great time.
The service was great. The food is great. I only remember 3 dishes out of 8. But I’m sure the others were good too.
Only thing i didn’t like, but understand that the chefs take their jobs very seriously. But since it is an open kitchen it would be great if they could be a little more personable.
I’ll definitely be back soon. And arrive sober.

It is with such sad disappointment that I write this review… I don’t know if it’s because I had such high expectations for this place but the hubby and I were very disappointed, almost to the point of anger haha, after eating here.
We don’t mind paying over $ 200 for a good dinner, but when I pay that much I want to be wowed by at LEAST one thing that I eat, and we weren’t at all, quite the opposite actually. When you come for dinner you only have the option of the prix fix menu. We both ordered different things, so we tasted everything in the menu.
The scallop starter was ok, even though it had cheese on it. I’m not a huge fan of cheese on seafood. My fish taco tortilla was completely fried to a crisp. All I could taste while eating it was the burnt tortilla because the fish had absolutely no flavor, not even salt. The hubby’s chili relleno was ok, nothing special. The best part of the meal was the steak. It was cooked perfectly at medium rare, juicy, and flavorful. All of the dishes felt like they were pre cooked and sitting out for a while before being served.
We left saying if this is the best OC has to offer, which is what many say, they really need to step up their game.

treated my gf to the three course brunch for her birthday
when we first saw the tables around us getting their dishes
we started making plans to eat somewhere else after
because the portions looked so small
but we were surprisingly full by the end of our meal
i can’t remember all the fancy ingredients or names of the dishes
but i’ll break it down for you real simple:
toasted bread with refried beans to start — surprisingly super tasty and that grey-​colored
whipped butter was to die for. the salsa was fresh and spicy
i opted for the lemon pancakes which were tiny
but packed a sweet, tangy, refreshing punch
i also loved how crispy the edges were
my gf got the oatmeal which in my opinion was just ok
but she liked it
we both opted for the chilaquiles with rib-​eye
(i think it’s normally skirt steak but they switched the cut that day)
and were both super pleased
the sauce was like a mole — sweet and savory
we also ordered a side of the crispy potatoes
which were nothing super special but tasty nevertheless
try to call ahead of rezzies because the place is super tiny
also, plan to eat there for awhile because they definitely pace out the dishes

Thank you Jacqueline D. for my birthday dinner here! Let’s say we came, ate, and got wine wasted. I was not feeling it later that night and the next day. It’s a set 4 course prefix menu and added wine pairing.
I loved the chefs counter in the open kitchen setting.
My favorite part of the meal was the end. The strawberry pudding dessert (purple looking thing in my pic). It was like crack. So gooooood. My most memorable dish which was a little heavy as a starter was the scallop with squid ink. It’s a great place for innovation. I admire their creativity with Mexican cuisine. It was good but not great. A little disappointing for Jonathan Gold’s #2 best restaurant.

We returned last night for dinner and my review stands at 5 stars. Service was excellent and the food was flavorful, bold and unique. My favorites were the scallop and the chile relleno. Growing up eating seafood on cape cod I feel like I have had scallops every way possible. This theory was debunked with my first course. The scallop paired with cheese and squid ink crumble was amazing. These ingredients brought the salt and texture to the meaty, perfectly cooked shellfish. Extra points for the scallop shell plate! The chile relleno was crispy fried on the outside and filled with green chile, cheese and crab on the inside. The warm, dark, slow cooked tomato sauce that paired with it on the plate really brought the dish together.
I also had Guinea hen dish with crispy skin (I could eat the skin all day) over creamy risotto-​like rice. I don’t often get to enjoy Guinea hen and I love it roasted like this with its rich dark meat. The least favorite, while still amazing, was the goat cheese tortellini with a spicy broth. The pasta was really delicate. I wished I did the wine pairing, like I have in the past, I am sure I will next time. Cheers to this great chef and his team again. The creative dishes and consistent execution of each wins me over every time.

Great tacos dude!
Very expensive tacos dude!
My first time I ever had Taco Maria was at a food truck roundup. Had me a couple of chicken mole tacos.
They were off the hook good! Such a deep complex flavor the mole pollo in a taco. One of my favorite tacos of all time. That’s saying a lot cuz I eat 100’s of tacos a year! I searched out for the TM truck every time I went to a roach coach event! I miss the taco truck (mole chicken tacos) FTW!
So fast forward a couple of years and my homie Dave G. texts me to go to lunch at the brick n mortar Taco Maria. Not sure why I’d never ventured in to try her before as I had been to the SOCO/​Mix Mart numerous times before and kept walking because it was always way busy, I wasn’t hungry or had other plans. But I always had it bookmarked?!?
Lucky us! We wandered in on an early Friday afternoon to find it not so busy. The host asked where we’d like to sit. We both have a love a finely prepared food and both being food voyeurs, this is as close to food porn as you can get, duh we’d like to sit at the counter.
All the tacos came in two’s so we gluttonously ordered three sets to split. These are big tacos so call me piggy if you want, but hey when in Rome…
We split three orders of tacos. I was a bit disappointed they didn’t offer the chicken mole but the Pescado Frito, Arrachera, and Carnitas all sounded fine to me.
It was fun watching them prepare the meats and salsas from the counter. This ain’t your 1 $ Taco Tuesday deal. The tacos averaged out to about $ 8 ea. Sure its spendy for tacos, but you get so much more than your standard tacos shop. Dare I say gourmet tacos? So much preparation and care is taken making your food and you taste it in every bite.
Ok so the tacos came on some cool blue corn tortillas which had a nice flavor to them. The fish taco was a nicely fried piece of cod? It was the perfect fish taco, every bite was awash in citrus, cabbage and the sauce what a perfect pescado taco! I’ll be back for more.
The Hanger Steak, Arrachera taco was another touchdown for my tongue. A perfectly cooked med-​rare to let the beef flavor roll in this one It was topped with a pinch of roasted chili peppers, cilantro, crema and a nice thick slice of applewood bacon. Asada perfection.
Lastly an awesome doubly porky taco. The carnitas here rocks. A nice bed of delish carnitas on that blue tortilla with a big slice of porkbelly topped with freshly prepared (watched ‘em make it) guacamole, cilantro and orange slices. One of the best I’ve ever eaten.
The food here was awesome, and it was even more so being able to watch them being so carefully prepared and served up to my eager mouth. Our service was excellent and waiter friendly and knowledgeable.
I’ll be back

Taco Maria
CA: Costa Mesa
9pm Friday 28^th August 2015
Four Stars
Every time I get in town, I always have take out my dear friend Suzy. She has been wanting to try the pre-​fixe menu + wine pairing for over a year. We got a reservation for 9pm but I feel that we could have come in earlier. We were definitely the last people to finish dinner.
First Course: Amuse Bouche Trio: Pickled Radish, Ceviche on Toasted Nori, and a Fried Potato Dumpling. Each finger size bite was delicious. The radish was lightly pickled with a crisp bite. The fish was firm and the seaweed was smoky. The spud fritter was textural perfection with crusty outside and creamy inside.
Second Course: A) Campechana. Geoduck clam, spiny lobster, avocado, tomato. It was a high class ceviche with mixing cool seafood with bright citrus flavors and creamy avocado.
B) Sope de Calabacitas: Summer Squash Riccota Basil Blue Corn. This was beautiful rose of
Third Course: A) Calamares en recado Negro. Local squid potato, chile ash. B) Arroz con Cangrejo — dungeness crab, pasmine rice porridge, green chile, chicken skin.
Fourth Course: A) Chochoyotes. Shelling beans, masa dumplings grilled cabbage. B) Mero con tomatillo. baja halibut cucumber green melon, avocado, tomatillo
Fifth Course:
A) Chile Verde de Conejo. Braised rabbit roasted tomatillo sweet corn padron peppers. B) Carne Asada. Ribeye cap, onion cream, quelites, «pachichi» black cherry
Sixth Course: Atole de elote. Hot Mexican Corn Drink. It was dessert but also the feeling that you get when warming hands by the camp fire.
The final cost was $ 250 Total and worth every penny.