SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER
May 24, 2007
Pan-Latin local
Want a Cuban mojito? How about Spanish paella? Maybe you’re really hungry and Brazilian churrascaria with mountains of barbecued meat sounds perfect. Or do you just want to curl up with some Mexican soul food from the exact region where you vacationed last winter?
In Orange County, any of these sumptuous Latin cuisines is only a 15- to 30-minute car ride away. Yes, amigos. In a land where just a decade or so ago it was all combo plates and condos, there is now an array of restaurants serving authentic foods from Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean.
They’re helmed by a new breed of restaurateurs like chef Gabbi Patrick. Her parents owned Mexican restaurants – she was a manager at 17 – but instead of stepping into the family business, she went to study at UCLA and the Culinary Institute of America in Napa. She knew she wanted the menu at her restaurant in Orange to be très gourmet. “In the beginning we had people who wanted their combo platters, but I really stuck to my guns. I told them, ‘I’ve created this amazing menu and I want you to try it.’
She admits she couldn’t have started a place like this 20 years ago. She also noted that the move toward more sophisticated menus is taking place inside Mexico, too. “Throughout Mexico chefs are bringing out the quality in traditional dishes from Puebla, Veracruz, the Yucatan, and it has lots of European influences. They call it Mestizo Gastronómico – it’s a mixtu! re of Mexican, Spanish and European influences.” Patrick’s menu includes such hybrid dishes as Mayan chocolate tart. The ganache filling is made with French Callebaut chocolate and topped with truffles made from Mexican Ibarra chocolate, cajeta (Mexican goat’s milk dulce de leche) and fresh whipping cream.
Patrick said she offers mojitos, sipping tequilas, a carefully chosen wine list and Brazilian Caipirinhas in her bar. The days of the killer margarita that stuns the palate are over. “Sometimes I can’t drink tequila. When we first opened we had a regional wine list with lots of bottles from Argentina and Chile. We just changed it. The demand is there for great Chardonnays and heavier wines that pair with the moles. We have a tequila list, and diners have fun drinking pomegranate mojitos. We keep it fun and fresh.”