Mario's Fiesta Maya - Review #1

Date of Visit: September 10, 2006

Mario's Fiesta Maya 17221 Beach Blvd Huntington Beach, CA 92647 (714) 375-6292 Listing on Yahoo! Local (listing contains full menu) Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch No known official website

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Appetizer: Chips and two types of salsa
Entree: Chipotle Red Snapper
Drink: Horchata

Coupons!

UPDATE: Mario's  Fiesta Maya has closed.

In the Orange County Register's recent 13th Annual Best of Orange County newsmag Mario's in Huntington Beach was mentioned as the hidden gem amongst Orange County Mexican restaurants. They mentioned the location on Springdale and Edinger that opened in 1969 and the location on Main St. in the Five Points Shopping Center that opened in 1975. But they failed to mention Mario's Fiesta Maya near Warner and Beach Blvd. that opened, I am told, in 1994. So I like to think of Mario's Fiesta Maya as the "hidden gem's hidden gem."

You have to give him the password to gain entrance

When I arrived they asked if I wanted to sit inside or outside. I asked for outside seating so I could take some pictures of their nice open air patio, but they seated me at a table right next to the only other people out there, a young couple in love who looked like they wanted some privacy, so I took a couple pictures then moved to a table inside.

Built in the ruins of an ancient Mayan temple

In addition to their heavy Mayan theme clearly evident inside and outside the premises, Mario's Fiesta Maya has a decidely more seafood-oriented menu than the two standard Mario's. I pikced the red snapper chipotle dish, a fish filet smothered in chipotle sauce, red and green peppers, mostly tender and flaky but crisp around the edges, selecting Mexican mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables as sides in place of the typical rice and beans.

Mario's Fiesta Maya has an extensive menu (check it out at their Yahoo! Local listing linked to above; it's slightly outdated but not very much) with plenty of appetizers, children's menu items, hamburgers if you're in a non-Mexican mood, breakfast selections, etc.

The presentation was a little on the sloppy side but I'm thinking it was a fluke since everyone around me was getting very nicely presented dishes (and it all goes down the same):

As I finished up my own meal I ordered a traditional tostada as takeout to drop off at my mom's place. She raved and raved about it, especially pointing out that it was the best rice and beans she ever had. Now I'll have to get the rice and beans the next time I go.

Mario's Fiesta Maya earns a four Speedy Gonzales rating:

UPDATE (September 23, 2006):

Went back two weeks later and took a few more pictures:

Actual hi-res photo of the owner

Camarones de la Sinaloa

Recruitment Drive and Contest

I'm having another one of those moments where I am feeling overwhelmed with the task ahead of me. To cover all the Mexican restaurants in the county is a huge job. I still have at least 200 hundred more to get to. I try to come up with a sensible list of restaurants to make it to in the near future, then I get recommendations made to me which I always take seriously, and then I find out about brand new places and I try to give those precedent, and it all piles up. It's a lot of fun but I wish I could clone myself.

Remember that I take guest reviews here. If you have a favorite place you want highlighted here then go ahead and submit your review to me; you will be fully credited for any review of yours posted here. It especially helps if you can take three or four good quality pictures of the restaurant and its food. If you submit a good review and feel like you might want to do more then I can probably set you up with posting privileges here.

Contest

Five Speedy Gonzaleses go to whoever can identify the Mexican restaurant this image comes from. Leave your guess in the comments on this post. You can find a hint in my recent The Best of What? entry. A related hint is that this image comes from the next review to appear here at this blog.

Where is this?

Gabby about Gabbi's

This is only one entry we have about Gabbi's and has been outdated and replaced with new and better info. You will get all the info we have about this great restaurant by clicking the image link above. Don't click the link if you only want to read old info.

There's no sign . . . maybe there never will be.

Finally my reviews of Gabbi's Mexican Kitchen in Old Towne Orange are not the only ones anywhere, in print or online. Gustavo Arellano from the OC Weekly has now reviewed Gabbi's with virtuosic verbosity, even tossing in an oblique Spinal Tap reference. He is right that you should make your reservations well in advance, especially on weekends. He is also right that the salsa they bring you out first is rather mild but you can request it hotter. Finally, he is right that it's proper to expect a new restaurant to take about six months to iron out kinks and fall into a groove but if you want to be in on the new hotspot of gourmet Mexican food in the county then work in a trip to Gabbi's in Old Town Orange. While Gustavo may be better with words, we are better with photos.

UPDATE

Tenny Tatusian has posted her review of Gabbi's on her OC Register Food Frenzy blog. Here's some photos from a visit to Gabbi's with periodic blog contributor Joy, Elmo from Monster Munching, and Omar from SqueezeOC:

Mole Enchiladas

Puerco Poc-Chuc

Shrimp Tacos

The Best of What?

Today's Orange County Register contains the big annual insert pointing out the "best of" in several categories relating to county life as voted on by its readership. In the "Best Mexican Food" entry on page 224 we find that Register readers know only about the most well-known chain type of restaurants: El Torito, Don Jose, Acapulco, El Ranchito, Super Mex, etc. I can go to any of these places and get a good meal so I'm not lambasting any one of them, but when you look at the aggregate of the results it seems highly unoriginal. I have heard that employees at the Register sometimes cringe when they see what people are voting on but that they still have to depict the vote results honestly. Maybe it's to be expected that the most well-known places get voted for the most but that method doesn't help to inform anyone. Who needs to have their attention called to the fact that there's a chain called El Torito? That's what this blog aims to do: help readers find hidden gems all over. In fact, the next review to be posted on this blog is going to be about the Register voters' hidden gem's hidden gem.

La Salsa - Review #1½

Date of Visit: September 9, 2006

La Salsa @ Fashion Island 401 Newport Center Drive A-107 Newport Beach, CA 92660 (714) 255-5660 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch Official Site

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Guerilla Photography

(UPDATE: According to the Fast Food Maven this La Salsa location has closed.) So today we get to look at another one of those chain Mexican restaurants that's a step up from Taco Bell and Del Taco: La Salsa. For those of you who don't habla Español, La Salsa is Spanish for . . . "The Salsa," if we follow Chris Farley's Spanish lesson:


I was trying to take pictures of this Fashion Island food court La Salsa when the shift supervisor saw me and told me that unless I worked for CKE I wouldn't be allowed to take pictures. I was afraid mall security (I like to call them the "Fashion Police") would haul me away so I promised not to take anymore. After that he told me that they didn't want competition coming and stealing their secrets. I was flattered that La Salsa would consider me competition but I revealed my true purpose as a humble amateur food blogger whose sole purpose is to call attention to great Mexican food in Orange County. Once he found that out he really lightened up and we had a great conversation.

He also confirmed my suspicion that they are the only La Salsa location in Orange County that serves breakfast (but also added that most of the locations in Los Angeles do). You can eat a nice quiet breakfast here before all the mall rats invade the place. I ordered the Omelette Mexicano, a "Jack and Cheddar cheese omelette topped with salsa. Served with chorizo, beans, and chilaquiles topped with sour cream and a side of corn or flour tortillas." It made a great breakfast. The chorizo inside wasn't exactly to my liking but you can substitute chicken or steak for $1.90 more. My friend running the cash register told me that the most popular breakfast item is the breakfast burrito but I'm still wanting to try their Huevos Rancheros sometime.

Omelette Mexicano with Chorizo

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Mas Salsa

While I was at the Fashion Island location the employee brought up to me out of the blue that there was a brand new location in Huntington Beach and he raved about its new design. I found out later that it is at the new Bella Terra shopping center (the former Huntington Center) and I went Monday night and took some pictures. The manager told us that they had then been open only eight days. It is immediately across the street from the entrance to the Cheesecake Factory.

Mosaic Map of Mexico

Hanging Sign

Lots of colored tile

One of the things I've always admired about La Salsa is that they are one of the very few places (I can only think of one other such place) that has mango salsa in their salsa bar:

La Salsa earns a three and a half Speedy Gonzales rating:



Also, check out our review of La Salsa's Chipotle Shrimp Salad in our Salad Wars entry.

Durango Mexican Grill - Review #1

Date of Visit: September 8, 2006

Durango Mexican Grill 730 E Imperial Hwy Brea, CA 92821 (714) 255-5660 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch Official Site

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Entree: Chicken and Lobster Tacos
Drink: Watermelon aguas fresca
Dessert: Flan de Queso

Attack of the Taco Mesa Clone

After having a number of recent entries that covered places I've already covered before and hovering around the Irvine/Santa Ana/Newport Beach/Orange area a little too much I was really getting the itch to go to a Mexican restaurant I'd never been to before, preferably one in an Orange County city I haven't yet covered in this blog. I'd heard about Durango Mexican Grill in Brea from SqueezeOC (the print edition originally, if you can believe it) and it sounded like a good bet so I decided to give it a try.

When I got there I was surprised to find out how much like Taco Mesa it was. It is so similar to Taco Mesa that I wasn't surprised to then find out that it had actually been a Taco Mesa before. I tried to find out how long it's been Durango Mexican Grill but nobody knew English there well enough to answer my question (a sign of authenticity perhaps?); they kept thinking I was asking what time they opened for business that day. It appears that these new owners just bought the old Brea Taco Mesa, kept the menu the same, and only made slight changes since then.

One of the things I like about Durango Mexican Grill is that they have self-serve aguas frescas, so I helped myself to plenty of watermelon. They also had horchata and cantaloupe when I was there. One thing different about them and Taco Mesa is that Durango has lobster tacos all the time and features them heavily. I ordered a two taco plate with one blackened chicken taco and one lobster taco. It came with Spanish rice and white beans. My friend James ordered a machaca breakfast burrito (not pictured) full of beef, scrambled eggs, onions, and peppers.

They even prepare their baked cream cheese flan in the same manner as Taco Mesa, with sliced strawberries and caramel sauce:

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm complaining that Durango is such a Taco Mesa clone. That's actually a good thing. Durango Mexican Grill earns a four Speedy Gonzales rating:

The Taco Bubble?

Never thought I'd be referencing Jonathon Lansner's real estate blog found at the OC Register's site but today he is talking about the taco bubble. Lansner's proof that there is a taco bubble is Del Taco's offering of its regular tacos for 49 measly cents. There are some funny comments left on the blog entry as well. If anyone can send me a picture of a taco bubble I'd be much obliged and might even post it here.

Roundup #6

In searching out the best Mexican food in Orange County sometimes I encounter things that may be of interest to readers of this blog that would not fit into one of the traditional restaurant review entries here so every once in a while I'll do a roundup entry such as this.

Restaurant Roundup:

Mexican restaurants I've visited since the last roundup that I already have reviews up for include Taco Rosa, Azteca's, Taco Factory, Javier's, and Taleo Mexican Grill. Each one of these may still get a review here again but sometimes I have to go to a place and just eat and not review.

Azteca's Takeout - Chicken Mole Enchiladas

Non-Mexican restaurants I've been to since the last roundup include, but are not limited to, Kabuki (yes, Kabuki . . . again), Lee's Sandwiches, Cento & Fanti, Ruby Palace, Lotus Chinese Eatery, Crescent City Beignets, Wasabi, Pei Wei Asian Diner, King's Hawaiian (da Local Place dis time), Club 33, and Lucca Cafe.

Updated entries:

I've updated the Salsa Extravaganza and Salad Wars entries.

Speedy Gonzalez:

I recently found out there is a place in Texas called Speedy Gonzalez Mexican Food. Does anybody know more about this? Do they use the actual Warner Bros. character in their brand identity? There's also a Taco Cart in NYC with Speedy on the sombrero. Speaking of Speedy Gonzales, there is also a site that imagines a Grudge Match between him and the Taco Bell chihuahua. Is there any doubt who would win?

Miscellany:

Look who hangs out at my work:

Here's some chocolate bread pudding I made recently:

Eating a candy bar in the way George Costanza from Seinfeld does:

Shave ice from Nalu's Island Grill:

The spread at a picnic I went on recently with a date at Huntington Beach Central Park:

People from Disney and DreamWorks send me stuff all the time and a lot of it collects on my desk at work:

Here's a Pirates of the Caribbean Ice Cream Sundae I got recently from the Disney Soda Fountain and Studio Store on Hollywood Blvd.:

Taco Rosa Desserts:

One of my favorite Mexican restaurants in Orange County is Taco Rosa and they have been reviewed several times here but I've had a hard time getting pictures from there whose quality I am satisfied with. Lately though I've been getting some good quality pictures from there over several visits and they will all show up in a later review. For now I have pictures of a couple of their dessert items: