Sausal - El Segundo

Americas - USA West Los Angeles
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I finally, and reluctantly, joined Instagram. I discovered “HungryinLA” (know anything about him/her?) HungryinLA posted a beautiful picture of “Angry Mussels” at Sausal in El Segundo - and I was intrigued. I went for lunch yesterday (apparently the first day of lunch service was Monday, 10/5!). I appreciated Kevin’s HopDoddy report, and though ALL chains, I have had many lunches at The Point since its opening. I was very pleased to be able to visit a non-chain restaurant in El Segundo (suprisingly hard to come by).

Sausal is pretty space, comfortably organized, quite large, and has a full-size bar. We sat outside on the patio/sidewalk. Though only two people, we ordered quite a bit of food - oxtail empandas, freshly made guacamole, the aforementioned Angry Mussels and the Little Gem salad with salmon. We had a friendly waitress who was very knowledgeable about the menu. The chef is clearly interested in the details of her presentation, and the mix of flavors, as well as educating her staff.

The guacamole was very nice, with small cherry tomatoes sliced in half and embedded in it. The empanadas elicited a muffled “excellent”. I do not love salmon, but appreciate its flexibility in dishes. I thought the salmon was a standout - neither overcooked nor under, with excellent flavor. I ate the second half of my salmon salad today and I STILL thought it was excellent. The food was well-executed, the menu sufficiently diverse, and dare I say it, the food quality overall was best in El Segundo by a landslide. I will return for dinner in short order!

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menu looks interesting.
can you talk a little bit about portion size.
do you think that just ordering an entree would likely be enough to satisfy one person for dinner
or, do you think adding an appetizer/salad would be necessary?

in particular, i’m looking at the Grilled Striped Bass.

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I did not see the Grilled Striped Bass emerge from the kitchen. The Angry Mussels (which are listed as a “snack”) were a very significant sized portion, and came with a bowl stuffed with bread. There is no doubt that is a meal, not just an appetizer. The oxtail empanadas (also a snack) had 4 on the plate - I’m not sure if that would have been enough without at least something else. I found the Little Gem Salad to be more than just one meal (and I promise, I am an eater). The guacamole was not particularly large, otherwise I would say portions were on the larger side - whether appetizer or entrée.

My guess is that the striped bass alone would be enough.

I hope that is helpful!

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thank you so much

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Would be nice to have more reports on this place. Photos as well.

I would like to know where the influences from the famous 1898 cookbook show up.

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I see why there have been no reports… this is, sadly, a restaurant that represents some of the worst of LA’s dining scene.

One of the worst dining experiences I have had the misfortune of enduring in quite some time.

First of all, a “highly recommended” and “super popular” brisket barbacoa taco was the most offensive thing I have been served in a restaurant in my life. A $6 taco with fucking STORE BOUGHT TORTILLAS…and not even grilled with some oil or ANYTHING, completely dry, brittle, and fucked. Literally worse than any tortillas on $1 tacos at any taco truck in Los Angeles. I railed against Petty Cash, but Sausal makes Petty Cash seem like Pujol! FUCK. ME. The brisket was also insanely dry…topped with, more dry cheese…on brittle, shit tortillas. Literally inedible.

It’s amazing that the salsa on the side tasted at least ok, but it was utterly horrific, and no salsa could save it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCUC9juk0CY/?taken-by=compulsiveaesthete

The famed Duck Mole Tamale was better. One assumed they crafted this masa themselves…why not make their own tortillas? Mole was alright, not bad really, and duck confit was pleasant. Tart sweet potatoes, astringent slaw, and crumbly cotjita helped out. However, it could be much improved. First, the plating looks nice, but when you unwrap the tamale you take a ton of the mole sauce off the plate with the wrapper…sort of odd. There is also no balance of ingredients, as there is far more duck and masa than mole, sweet potatoes, cheese, or slaw… no the worst thing ever, but it loses a lot when all of the elements aren’t there, and they run out about halfway through the dish. It shows a somewhat low level of thought put into the final dish, the emphasis is just on making it look pretty, the epitome of pretense in my opinion.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCUDBvlE0Cc/?taken-by=compulsiveaesthete

I had a strawberry margarita as well, not horrible, but strawberries not muddled all the way, and heavy no the triple sec, more of a place to drink for people that want heavily sweet drinks, but then again it was a strawberry margarita…so whatever.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCUEV_xk0En/?taken-by=compulsiveaesthete

Thing is…not once was I asked how anything was. I was pretty much ignored at the place until I got someone to close me out, and even then, despite having pushed the horrific taco far away from me, no one asked. Have rarely encountered service this bad anywhere else, even in LA…

The place is basically slightly better Mexican fare for rich white people. What a waste of time and money.

Writing this from Gjusta where I had to go to cleanse my palate of such horrors.

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Thats too bad, the concept sounded interesting- you really cant have a great taco with out a great tortilla and the garnish shows very little thought

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No one is more disappointed than me.

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Shite. When I saw the title of this thread, I was excited that El Segundo had something worth checking out. It’s a weird little town, but I pull for it for some reason. Maybe because it smells so bad every-other time you visit. But alas, I’m not shocked to read this and have those hopes dashed.

Hope the Gjusta cleanse sufficed. Thanks for the report.

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I enjoyed my one visit to Sausal.

The goat birrira, ceviche and the tamale were all good. Tostada (including the ceviche) were not memorable, however.

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Tamale is good, not great shrugs

What kind of tortillas is the birria served with?

I doubt I’ll ever return, but just curious.

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corn

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Went to Sausal with some friends for dinner the other night. I was prepared for the worst based on @Aesthete’s report but was pleasantly surprised by my meal. I’m not sure if they saw the criticisms and changed things up, but several things are different from what was described.

For one thing, the corn tortillas on the tacos appeared to be freshly made in house. I actually rather enjoyed my chicken tinga taco. For another, the tamale is now a tamale pie that works much better as a vehicle for the mole.

The guacamole was nice and chunky, and I liked how it came with freshly fried full tortillas instead of chips. The star of the show was the arroz con pollo, which was tender and smokey.

Margaritas were fine but a little heavy on the triple sec, as reported.

Sausal isn’t destination dining by any stretch. More a solid choice if you’re in the area. But I would go back to try some of the other tacos, as well as the pork chile verde, which looked tasty.

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Hopefully they are turning things around from criticism then. Cool for them if so. I’m amazed you took the risk haha Sausal is too close to the MB golden zone to warrant goong even lightly out of the way typically I feel like but maybe if they totally reform… Who knows.