Mesquite-Grilled Tacos via Palm Trees and Al Fresco Dining? - Salazar Frogtown Debuts

You think Los Poblanos is better than Tireshop? If so, I need to go asap.

Say what one wants about food. That website is awesome!

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new batch of tepache should be ready; I hear there are new flavors debuting this weekend. see you guys there tomorrow.

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When are they going to open for lunch besides Sunday? I’m off Fridays and would love to have a few drinks at 3 pm. I want to piss off my friends who haven’t gotten out of work yet and get some #WorkDayDrinking Cred. :grin:

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It must be a generational thing (and I must be all way younger than you! :wink: ::snort:: J/K).

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hopefully after July 4, we’re staffing up as quickly as we can. we’ll actually be open b/l/d if you’re looking for serious workday drinking cred.

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Complaints/criticisms aside Ron, I’ve enjoyed my two visits to your joint. It’s local to me, food is solid, cocktails have been tasty and I really dig the outside seating.

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Awwww shit! Get ready for some breakfast drinking yo! Lol! Just kidding.

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Salazar… A place that may go out of business due to being nearly 100% outdoor seating.

I finally made it and my dining companion and I were literally the only table, lucky they even served us I guess.

I went in with pretty low expectations and came out pleasantly surprised.

They didn’t have the horchata cocktails anymore but they make Hand Shaken Margaritas that taste exactly like they do in Mexico City, so I was pretty happy with those.

Grilled Vegetable Salad was somewhat disappointing; I thought the vegetables would be warm from the grill for some reason and I thought the sumac vinaigrette would come through stronger. Not terrible per se, but felt like missed the mark of its potential.

Beet Salad was an improvement with its supple beets, creamy cheese (basically a Mexican ricotta) and nutty walnut oil plus candied pecans cut with some fresh arugula. My only complaint was the ratio of ingredients was a bit off, but fortunately I love beets even by themselves.

Things took a noticeable uptick when the Carne Asada Fries hit the table. These are decidedly not strictly authentic as there is no guac on them, they come with a far stringier cheese than hat you would find in SD joints, and they have a chipotle aioli instead of sour cream. Still, the fries are perfect and the combination in total is an incredibly balanced flavor sensation of crispy starch, stringy cheese, creamy lightly spicy aioli and fantastically juicy, smoky grilled Asada. We got some avocado mousse on the side as a substitute for guac but the fries don’t really need it. Among the best carne Asada fries I have ever eaten and almost certainly the best in Los Angeles. A trip to Salazar is warrant for these fries and the margaritas alone.

Rainbow Trout Zarandeado was a lovely dish. One of the best rainbow trout preps I’ve had. The fish was delicate, moist and packed with flavor. It was not the intensely meaty spiced experience of Coni where the fish holds up to the intense salsa verde and caramelized onions in fresh tortillas, but taken by itself, it was an utterly delicious trout dish. My dining companion who doesn’t like fish even enjoyed it. It tasted nice by itself in warm flour tortillas provided as well, which were warm stretchy and exceptional in their own right.

Al Pastor Pork Chop was possibly the greatest dish of the night. I was prepared to be let down as I wanted it cooked rare but they are sous vide to somewhat above rare. Still, they managed to just give it a perfect sear while keeping it mostly pink and succulent. The marinade, grilled pineapple slices beneath it, and the hot salsa you can request, which is reminiscent of a more refined version of Leo’s salsa, all put in a hot freshly made corn tortilla is probably the greatest al pastor flavor experience I have had to date including the al pastor foie gras I had at ALs Place in SF. At $24 this is quite the bargain. I hate myself for being too deep into the margaritas to realize I took such a poor shot of it.

Esquites were a lovely side. Not as great as what I had at Taco Maria, but the use of that ricotta in them made them rather unusually creamy while chopped chilies added a piquant heat. The corn itself was cooked nicely. All around great Esquites that was very clean tasting and not ordinary.

The truly stunning sleeper hit of the meal was the side of Papas con Chorizo, though. A potato purée that reminded me more of fine potato mousseline, almost custardy in texture, topped with whole links of chorizo verde, which were fragrantly spiced and immensely meaty. There were some wonderfully grilled cherry tomatoes and a potent verde sauce on top as well. An astoundingly vibrant, luxurious dish that showed off the kitchens capabilities in a subtle way. Remarkable.

We were too full for dessert and concluded there with some boxed up goodies.

I really hope winter doesn’t put them out of business because this was one of the most enjoyable meals I’ve had recently. A lot of unique and cravable dishes.

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They really seem to have turned the Zarandeado around. I didn’t even recall how bad it was in your review; couldn’t be further from dry, and one-note, so nice that they seem to be improving with time.

Although probably there will never be a reason to go for tacos it seems like.

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When the weather was better, it was impossible to get a table. One hopes their business model/plan assumed certain winter losses with an outdoor only restaurant.

They have heaters.

I thought their bean stew (forget the actual name on the menu) was quite good.

Hopefully so… you would think it would almost be worth it to encase the whole place in a temporary outdoor tent or something haha

Heaters are ok when it’s like 50-60 out, though a lot of people probably wouldn’t agree with that even, but below 50, idk, it’s not what I would describe as comfortable, and the food gets cold pretty quickly even with a heater nearby. Not exactly a perfect solution.

Ugh dining with heaters is so worthless. Somebody is too hot, somebody is too cold, and you better eat quick or your food will soon be 40 degrees. Seriously though this place should stay in business just based on how well they do when the weather is warm.

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Had a nice dinner at Salazar last night. The vibe and atmosphere of this place on a nice summer evening is pretty tough to beat. Everyone just having a great time, from families with young children to groups of friends celebrating birthdays.

Here’s what we ordered (sorry didn’t take any pics)

Roasted beet salad - I’m used to eating beets with goat cheese, but they use blue cheese, which was interesting. Solid dish but not craveworthy.
Esquites - their take on street corn. Really nice and the mascarpone adds a nice creamy texture.
Papas y chorizo - Basically mashed potatoes with chorizo. Tasty but heavy, good to share.
Carne asada and al pastor tacos - they use flour tortillas here for their tacos. I think I prefer corn tortillas, but the tacos were nice and meaty with a really good homemade salsa. I didn’t have any issues with the temperature of the meat unlike @Chowseeker1999. I don’t really expect my taco meats to come out piping hot as once they get chopped up, they’ll lose heat quickly.
Pork chop - Really really good. Nice char on the outside with plenty smokey flavors. Served on a bed of grilled pineapple, you can make yourself fancy “al pastor” tacos yourself. They recommend cooking the pork to medium, but it came out closer to med well, but was still juicy and tender.
Tres leches cake - Tasty but slice was pretty small and at $9, not a good value.

Had a few good margaritas and tried the horchata cocktail. You don’t taste any alcohol in the horchata cocktail, so while tasty, didn’t really taste like a cocktail.

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Was the tres leches cake the one that has goat’s milk in it? I once had a tres leches there with goat’s milk and the cake itself was kind of like cornbread and it was amazing to me, but apparently it was just a special on that particular night. :disappointed:

It didn’t look like that so probably not.

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Had the pork chop from Salazar again last night and it was amazing. This might be one of my favorite pork chops in the city.