Downtown Santa Ana underwent a culinary renaissance a few years ago, with notable restaurants opening and changing the dining landscape. Some of those restaurants have come and gone, others have established a foothold with loyal diners who appreciate the diversity of flavors.
One of those restaurants is El Mercado Modern Cuisine, which celebrated five years in downtown Santa Ana last fall. The restaurant was founded by José Cerrudo and Chef Fernando Franco in 2016, and is a contemporary Mexican restaurant and agave spirits-driven bar that earned a nod from the Michelin Guide as a “culinary microcosm of the distinctive regions of Mexico.”
The Michelin Guide also noted that “inside, bursts of color from the artwork make everything seem beautiful, cool and welcoming. Serving a contemporary take on this nation’s regional cuisine in Santa Ana is certainly no small feat, but this kitchen delivers wonderful flavors, compositions and quality through a range of dishes.”
Mercado Modern’s interpretation of regional Mexican cuisine is influenced by seasonal ingredients and high-quality specialty imports from Mexico.
According to Franco, Mercado has several distinct types of diners: first-generation Mexican (“so we keep 50% of the menu traditional”), second generation that wants to explore creative or modern cuisine, and all the rest who come for a fun and flavorful dining experience.
This statement on the Mercado Modern website perfectly sums up the concept: “Our goal is to take guests through an adventure of Mexico’s great cuisine one bite at a time, using modern techniques for our simple yet elegant dishes.”Â
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“Simple yet elegant” is an apt description of the dishes I tried while dining at El Mercado Modern Cuisine a few weeks ago.
Before I ordered, co-founder Jose Cerrudo had me try one of the restaurant’s signature cocktails: the Italian Wolf, made with Mezcal, marsala, Galliano, lemon, agave, clove—and a show. The show was having the cocktail brought out under a smoke-filled glass dome, then removing the dome to reveal the cocktail. What a fun and tasty way to start a meal.
For my first course, I ordered tacos, but not just any tacos. Mercado Modern offers four different ones: Jamaica with sautéed hibiscus, pea puree, and jicama/avocado; shrimp with garlic-ginger, roasted carrot puree, and sauteed shrimp; pork belly with roasted potato, pea puree, and pickled Fresno chili; and ahogados with avocado, cream, cotija cheese, serrano chile, xoconostle salsa, chicken jus, and red cabbage.
I went with the shrimp, which like the others come atop homemade yellow tortillas. They arrived ablaze in color, almost too beautiful to eat. But I did. They were fabulous.
I’m a fan of octopus and am always curious to see how different restaurants cook octopus. This one comes marinated with Oaxaca chile, Chula Vista tequila glazed, chorizo oil, roasted potatoes, cabbage puree and broth, and peas.
“We tried to marinate the octopus in tequila but it gets rubbery, so we spray it with a little tequila when it’s done,” Chef Fernando Franco explained.
The octopus was tender, and I soaked up as much of the broth as I could with every bite.
To end my meal, Cerrudo brought out two signature desserts: the coconut ice cream with coconut flakes and pistachios, and their take on a carrot cake with pineapple compote and whipped cream.
Franco told me they add carrots just before they bake the cake to keep it moist. There’s also some cinnamon and cane sugar in the mix.
“It takes about three hours to make—we cook it really slow,” Franco said.
The carrot cake was tasty, but the star for me was the ice cream. So seemingly simple, yet bursting with flavor, and the pistachios added a nice crunchiness.
I should add that much like its menu, Mercado Modern’s cocktail program plays with the balance of classic and contemporary. Cerrudo draws upon his own childhood growing up in Peru to further infuse a bit of history into the drinks. Ask him for a recommendation and he’ll gladly tell you a tale of each cocktail.
El Mercado Modern is open Wednesday through Sunday for dinner and Sundays for brunch.
El Mercado Modern Cuisine: 301 N. Spurgeon St., Santa Ana, (714) 338-2446, mercadomodern.com
