There’s some very good news for diners in the Irvine and South County areas. The El Cholo Cantina at the corner of Jeffrey Road and Alton Parkway in Irvine is now serving the whole menu of authentic unadulterated food from the other famous El Cholo restaurants. It’s the same food that’s kept the chain at the forefront of Mexican dining in America.
When our El Cholo opened last February, the menu was abbreviated to a few enchilada, fajita and combination plates. Although those items were real Sonoran food, any of us who had been to the other El Cholos wanted the rest of the specialties and tastes of Mexico we cannot find elsewhere. There are some fine tastes to be had now.
To understand the fame of the El Cholo name, one has to understand the history of the restaurant. It all began in 1922 when Alejandro and Rosa Barquez decided to open a small restaurant in LA using Rosa’s recipes from Mexico. In 1923, they opened the Sonora Caf & #233; near the Coliseum. In 1925, a customer drew a rather amusing figure on the front of his menu. He called him El Cholo (the name given to Mexican ranch hands), which subsequently became the name of a new restaurant opened by the Barquez’s daughter, Aurelia, and her husband, George Salisbury, a former restaurant patron. That first El Cholo, at 11th and Western, had just eight stools and three booths and a hot-top stove for cooking.
In 1931, the couple moved the restaurant across the street to its present location.
It was in 1932 that another long tradition began: Joe Reina came to work as a dishwasher and shortly thereafter became the chef, a position he held until retirement 54 years later and which changed the Mexican restaurant industry in America. Reina’s food gained renown and El Cholo became more and more popular over the years with movie stars and celebrities of all sorts beginning to occupy tables from the ’40s on. Over the past two decades, having Caroline Bates, restaurant critic of Gourmet magazine, and John Mariani, America’s food historian, smitten with your food doesn’t hurt, either.
Think you know where nachos came from? Here’s the real story. In 1964, Carmen Rocha joined the El Cholo family and invented nachos, again making history. El Cholo, meantime, was turning the American public on to premium quality margaritas; by ’67 the restaurant was the world’s largest user of Cuervo 1800 Tequila.
That original El Cholo in LA was expanded in 1972 into what we know today: the beautiful interiors surrounding the courtyard patio with its tropical plants and fountains. By the ’90s, the fifth generation of the family was working in the restaurants,now encompassing the original restaurant and El Cholos in Santa Monica, La Habra and Irvine, plus the Sonora Caf & #233; in LA and the old English manor house where marvelous modern California cuisine is served, The Cat and The Custard Cup, in La Habra.
Owner Ron Salisbury has not only given us the best Mexican food around, but he’s provided our local restaurant with comfortable booths and family-style tables, Sonoran desert colors and beautiful multi-colored chandeliers with classic black-and-white photos mingling with colorful art on the walls. One of the most engaging parts of this El Cholo is the long bar, a dandy place to have our pre- or post-meal margaritas.
Let me tell you about some of the things I feel you must order, prefacing this by warning you that portions are huge. Nobody serves a heartier bowl of albondigas soup. Seven meatballs were in last night’s bowl, and they were so very tasty. The broth is tomato-based with green pepper, onion and cilantro floating in it. I happen to love sharing a Fiesta Platter before entr & #233;es. It is a spread of crab taquitos, beef taquitos, nachos, quesadillas and chimichangas served with plenty of guacamole and sour cream.
Dating from 1923 and still one of the most delicious entr & #233;es of all is the Sonora-Style Enchilada. This is a stack of tortillas layered with savory chicken and cheese and topped with a fried egg. It is surrounded by a mole-style sauce and served on a large black plate. The crabmeat enchilada is also luscious and rich. Chili con carne in this country is seldom like the simmered meat dish I find everywhere in Mexico. This is the real thing: chunks of tender beef with just the right amount of snap in the thick chili sauce. If, like me, you enjoy carnitas, this platter of richly flavored, shredded pork should keep you happy. On the side there’s a fresh avocado relish, some pico de gallo sauce, grilled nopales (cactus pads) and, like almost all entr & #233;es, wonderful fluffy rice and nicely flavored beans.
You have to wait until May to get the green corn tamales, but between then and October, you will want to eat this nationally famous specialty several times. Fresh corn is blended with masa flour to make the tamales, which are stuffed with cheese or meat and steamed inside their corn-husk wrappers. A line of customers forms at every restaurant location on the first day in May when they are served. And orders come in from across the nation. I buy lots of them and put them in my freezer.
Tostadas also date back to 1923 and the tortilla “bowl” is filled with either just vegetables,nine of them,or the same vegetables plus grilled chicken and fresh avocado. I have the latter for my completely balanced meal. Some of you will surely feel that newer innovations such as fajitas are what you prefer. Take your pick of beef, chicken, shrimp or vegetarian mingled with authentic spices and you have quite a satisfying meal. For those who can never make up your mind, just order a massive combination plate and choose at whim from tamales, enchiladas, tacos and rellenos.
I cannot imagine a better ending than the creamy flan, but the pralines are also great with a nice hot cup of coffee. Otherwise, we go to the bar and end our meal with another of those premium margaritas, with salt on the rim, naturally.
