Mosaic Bar and Grille

Mosaic Bar and Grille 30801 South Coast Highway Laguna Beach, CA 92651 (866) 271-6953 Listing on Yelp Listing on The Guide at the LA Times Official Site

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I bet you didn't know it but today, September 16, is National Guacamole Day. (It is also Mexican Independence Day but that's a subject for a different entry. And tomorrow is Talk Like a Pirate Day.) Now, don't get National Guacamole Day mixed up with Spicy Guacamole Day, which is on November 14.

Longtime readers may remember that about a year and a half ago I was contacted by editors of Tu Ciudad magazine for my opinion on where the best guacamole could be found in Orange County. I e-mailed back my opinion but my opinion was never printed. Instead, the editor gave it as his opinion that the best guacamole in Orange County could be found at The Montage resort in Laguna Beach. Later on I met the editor in person and asked him what made it stand out and he said, "I can't remember. I just remember it being really, really good."

I decided I would have to try out this really, really good guacamole and more than a year later I finally made it to The Montage with a couple friends to try to track down this guacamole. The Montage has a number of restaurants and we guessed that the guacamole might've come from the poolside bar which they call the Mosaic Bar and Grill.

Once we were seated we quickly scanned the menu for anything that might come qith guacamole and we spotted the Mosaic Nachos ("Pinto Beans, Tomatoes, Olives, Scallions, Guacamole, Sour Cream, Mozzarella and Jack, Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa") and Local Halibut Tacos ("Cabbage, Pico de Gallo and Cotija Cheese, Lime Cream Sauce, Pinto Beans and Avocado Salsa, Tortilla Chips"). We ended up sharing the nachos:

There was a little guacamole on the side and we all agreed that it was good stuff. We weren't quite sure if it was spectacular though. Nothing wrong with it, just not spectacular. I also got some with my entree, the halibut tacos:

Food in picture is bigger than it appears

As you can see, the nachos and the tacos are both served in big brass bowls and we noticed many other patrons were also ordering the nachos and the tacos. Once again, the guacamole was pretty good. It seemed to strike the right balance between chunky and mushy and had some good spice to it and I can't say anything bad about it but I'm not sure if we went to where the Tu Ciudad editor had been before.

I tried to find something from the dessert menu that was Mexican-related (no, I wasn't looking for guacamole on the dessert menu) and figured the dulce de leche sundae ("Bananas, Pecans and Cocoa Nibs, Dulce De Leche Ice Cream and Sauce") was the closest thing. I can't eat pecans so I asked if they had peanuts. Our waitress went and checked and came back and said they don't have peanuts but that another restaurant at the resort did and if I didn't mind waiting a couple extra minutes they could get me peanuts from there. I replied that I didn't mind waiting a couple extra minutes. When I got it I found out peanuts was a good choice. The peanuts they used seemed to be ever so slightly candied (I could be wrong but they seemed that way) and melded perfectly with the ice cream, caramel and bananas:

My own total came to something like $40-45. On my budget that's something I can do maybe once or twice a year. But they have a great setting and great service so it may be worth checking out if you want to relax on the beach sometime in a nice resort setting . . . or if you are staying in a room at The Montage.

See the unedited photo album (22 photos) at

Taco Loco - Review #1

Taco Loco 640 S Coast Hwy Laguna Beach, CA 92651 (949) 497-1635 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch No known official website.	Enter starting address: Address City, State and/or Zip
Voted #1 Best Surfer Hangout for 2005 by Citysearch Voters

To show that I eventually follow up on every recommendation made to me I went yesterday to Taco Loco in Laguna Beach which was recommended to me almost exactly two years ago. I was accompanied by Griffin Tamura of the Griffin Eats OC blog.

Griffin had been to Taco Loco before and on our way there he asked what I knew about it. I said, "Well, I've heard that they had mushroom tacos and tofu tacos." He said, "Yep, and that's what I usually get." When we arrived we were lucky to find one metered parking spot out on PCH but when we parked there the curb was so high that I couldn't open my door to get out. I was all ready to roll down the window and do a Dukes of Hazzard move but Griffin pulled the car away from the curb and I got out in the traditional way, then he pulled the car back in, we fed the parking meter a few quarters and walked the few steps to Taco Loco.

The only problem is I walked a few steps too far, right past their real building, and on to their spillover building on the other side of the driveway. I don't know what's in this second building but it does say "Taco Loco" above it and it does have Taco Loco customers eating outside. The point is, you'll want to go in the southernmost of the two Taco Loco buildings, the one you see pictured above.

Check the specials board on your way in

Fitting right in with the Laguna Beach zeitgeist, Taco Loco presents a laidback, hippie-ish vibe with meat on their menu but also a definite catering to vegans and vegetarians. I quickly looked for the mushroom tacos and the tofu tacos and found out they have both but that they also had a a mushroom tofu taco. I knew then that's what I would order and that everything else I might get would supplement it.

I added a blackened fish taco and the soup of the day which was black bean soup which was actually just a styrofoam cup of black beans. They were good as far as beans go but I think it's a little bit of a stretch to charge $3 for a cup of beans. They do top it with whatever you want on it such as onions, cilantro, guacamole, etc., so that adds some value.

My tofu mushroom taco came in a blue corn tortilla and was topped with their guacamole (which is more like a cross between guacamole and salsa - very light) and a little spicy hot sauce. The mushrooms tasted like mushrooms but the tofu tasted like chicken and I think that may have been on purpose; I had been expecting something like the tofu cubes found in miso soup but I should've known better.

All in all, the trip to Taco Loco was a fun one and the food was good but I think the $13.53 I paid was a little high for the two tacos, beans, and ginger ale I ordered. That's not going to stop me from ever going back though and I saw that some of the other customers were ordering some food that would've been great for pictures. Taco Loco earns a three and a half Speedy Gonzales rating:

La Sirena Grill - Review #1

Date of Visit: December 8, 2006

La Sirena Grill 347 Mermaid St Laguna Beach, CA 92651 (949) 497-8226 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch No known official website.

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Yes, it used to be a real cottage (the white one on the right)

Yesterday on my birthday I took the day off of work and decided to hit a Mexican restaurant up for lunch (surprise, surprise). I went to my secret list of restaurants to try and was reminded that I've been meaning to get to La Sirena Grill in Laguna Beach. It turned out to be a beautiful day for a drive through Laguna Canyon, one which almost justified the $4 toll I had to pay on the 73 South.

There really is a mermaid here

La Sirena Grill began in 1999 when a family bought an old cottage on Mermaid St. in Laguna Beach and saw it as their opportunity to offer contemporary Mexican dishes. It's no coincidence that Sirena is Spanish for "Mermaid."

Small but respectable salsa bar

I'd heard this place was small and when I arrived I saw how small it really was. With quarters as cramped as this and lots of friendly people coming to enjoy good food it's hard to not find yourself striking up conversations with perfect strangers, in other words, friends just waiting to be met. So when you go to La Sirena be prepared to converse with some of the other patrons there.

Inside the restaurant there is enough seating for three people at bar stools. Outside I believe there are four tables that seat roughly four each. Parking is also tight. Expect to shovel coins into a parking meter or the pay station across the street, unless maybe you have really good connections with the locals.

I ordered one of their signature Sirena Plates: "Grilled pasilla chile, herb-marinated bell peppers, onions, and cheese, served over fresh corn tortillas, and topped with pico de gallo" with blackened shrimp as my choice of meat (you can also choose carne asada, pollo, carnitas, pescado, or vegetarian). If you like setting your mouth on fire then this is the dish for you. I'm sure most of the spicy hotness came from the pasilla chile which is a huge component of this platter. I was tempted to run in from my outside seating and spray their fire extinguisher into my mouth. My watermelon/strawberry aguas frescas helped douse the flames a little bit but I wish they offered desserts here such as flan or deep-fried ice cream which are both good for finishing off a spicy meal.

There are numerous other items on their menu I'm looking forward to trying such as their vegetarian quesadilla, and their tortas and sopes. On my next visit I think I will try one of their Avocado-Lime Salads.

With a mailbox like this how could you go wrong?

La Sirena has a second location (30862 PCH, also in Laguna Beach) which I am told is five times larger and a couple I was talking with told me of a possible coming third location. As usual, anytime we get more such information we will post it here.

La Sirena Grill earns a very solid four Speedy Gonzales rating:

Javier's Cantina and Grill - Review #1

IMPORTANT UPDATE (February 11, 2008):

Javier's in Laguna has closed down. The Irvine location is still open and the Crystal Cove location has just opened. →CLICK HERE← to read all our extensive Javier's Cantina coverage including information on their location that is still open, their location that has just opened, and their location at a Mexican resort (includes a couple dozen photos).

Javier's Cantina & Grill
480 S Coast Hwy
Laguna Beach, CA 92651

The parking situation here was almost enough to make me drive away and never come back. One of my pet peeves is places with insufficient parking, or tight parking, or expensive parking. Javier's shares with other nearby shops a two-story parking garage where you have to purchase a parking voucher from a machine. The machine doesn't take bills so you have to go to a change machine in another part of the structure then go back to the machine that gives you a parking pass then go back to your car to put the pass on your dash. I don't know who the Einsteins are that came up with that arrangement. The machine says that parking is $1.50 per hour but you really get ten minutes for every quarter you put in so if you think you might be just over an hour just put in $1.75 or $2.00. I was thinking at first that it would only take amounts in increments of $1.50 but that's not the case. So, that is one good point. You can also try your luck parking in a residential area then walking back to the restaurant. If you go to their other location at the Irvine Spectrum (which, oddly enough, their official site doesn't even acknowledge) you'll have different types of parking-related headaches to deal with.

It is also hard to see Javier's from out front. All the store fronts on this strip are jammed closely together so that nothing stands out. If you've never been before you'll have to pay attention to the numbers on the shops when locating Javier's for the first time.

Javier's Chicken Taco Plate


Javier's Mole Poblano

My friend Sherry tells me that Javier's started when Javier worked at another Mexican restaurant nearby and was mistreated by his employer. He put up with it for a while, then finally got tired of it, quit and started his own restaurant which did so well it put his former employer out of business. If that is all true then I say more power to Javier and down with mean people. If you're a mean person stop being mean.

After ordering our food arrived very quickly, maybe in three or four minutes. But it didn't seem to have been prepared in a rush. Sherry and Zach each ordered the chicken taco plate and I ordered the mole poblano. I might even say it's the best mole sauce I've ever had; everything about it seemed to be perfectly balanced and complementary to the perfectly cooked chicken it smothered. One thing I'd prefer, and I'll readily admit this is my own idiosyncracy, is that I always wish they'd sprinkle even more sesame seeds on top of the mole. And I mean lots and lots of sesame seeds. But that's just me. And maybe next time I should just ask for it.

Javier's Flan


Javier's Deep-fried Ice Cream

I couldn't order their deep-fried ice cream because it has walnuts in it but Sherry and Zach ordered it and shared it. I ordered the flan for dessert and it was very well made but presented in an incredibly plain manner: the plate, the flan, and nothing else. I think I've been spoiled by Taco Rosa where they turn every serving of flan into its own artistic creation. And one time about a year ago when family was in town and I had too much time on my hands I made even artsier-looking flan and may try it again soon and post pictures here.

Overall, Javier's Cantina and Grill earns a very solid four Speedy Gonzales rating:



Other Javier's Reviews:

• Javier's at the Irvine Spectrum - Cinco de Mayo Review

Las Brisas - Review #1

361 Cliff Drive
Laguna Beach, CA 92651

Listing on Yahoo! Local

Official Site

Free Appetizer: Bread Basket (included jalapeño corn bread muffins)
Ordered Appetizer: Picadillo de Atun
Entree: El Topolobampo

I'm not even entirely sure this counts as a Mexican restaurant since it is owned and operated by an Arabic family and all the waiters and waitresses appeared to be Caucasian and instead of chips and salsa as an appetizer you get a bread basket, but it is part of the El Torito chain and serves predominantly Mexican-oriented dishes so I guess it qualifies for a review here.

The restaurant is situated on the cliffs overlooking the beach at Laguna which makes for an ideal locale. Parking in the area is tight with metered spots winding up Cliff Drive and away from the restaurant. The first quarter I put in my meter never registered so be aware that the same thing could happen again. All of my subsequent quarters did work however. And parking is enforced so if your meter runs out while you are in the restaurant there is a good chance you will be ticketed so don't let that happen to you. I believe they also have valet parking behind the restaurant. Or maybe you have a friend who lives in one of the nearby houses and you can use their driveway.

While I was making sure that everything was kosher with our parking situation my guest placed our reservation and was told it would be about a thirty minute wait. Four minutes later his buzzer rang and he was seated before I even got back. Our waiter was very polite and we ordered the Picadillo de Atun from the Comienzos section of the menu. This appetizer consisted of "Chopped rare ahi, roasted pepitas, papaya-cucumber slaw, lime chile arbol dip and tostaditas." It was the first time I'd had raw fish in a while so I didn't have too much of the ahi but used all the fixings available from that dish and from my main entree to make nice little glorified nachos.

Being under a little bit of a time constraint my guest and I kept things simple with him ordering a very basic salad and me ordering the fresh fish of the day. It was yellowtail and was served with a seafood enchilada (stuffed with shrimp, crab, mushrooms), some broccoli, and a scoop of Mexican-style rice. The presentation was effective and the food, while not spectacular, warrants some further exploration during a future visit, especially with a fine variety of items on their dessert menu.

Their official site is very outdated. On one hand I want to tell them to update it; on the other hand it's a little nostlagic to view it and see what all websites looked like back in 1996. The menus on the site seem to be mostly accurate though except that when you arrive at the restaurant you'll find that the prices have gone up a tad. For example, my dish (El Topolobampo) is listed at the site as costing $12.95 but was $13.50 on the menu at the restaurant proper. Not a big difference but they may want to look into at least updating the prices at the site.

Overall the experience merits a four Speedy Gonzales rating:



UPDATE: Here's photos taken at a visit a couple years after this original review:


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