EatMx: Real Mexican food, at home and on the road

Welcome to Mexico, LA Style: Part 1

Cheesy enchiladas and fatty nachos--that's not Mexican food in Los Angeles. We have really good Mexican restaurants here, and more opening all the time.

Get away from formula chains (OK, eat that stuff if you like it.  Everyone has a right to  their own taste). But if you're willing to try, you won't have to go far to find food that is much more interesting.

Look at what turned up at a tasting called "East LA Meets Napa." It's a yearly event that brings together Mexican restaurant owners, Mexican winemakers, mariachis and salsa bands to raise funds for an outfit called AltaMed that provides health care for underserved communities.

Spectacular food always shows up there, even though it's not easy to whittle restaurant plates down to tiny portions for a crowd of 1,500.

The striking dish at the top is one example. It's a savory corn flan flavored with corn juices. On top is black quinoa cooked with more corn juices and squash flowers. Dished up in colored corn husks, the flan combines delicate flavor with contrasting soft and chewy textures.

The place to get it is Rivera, an upscale restaurant in downtown Los Angeles.

Rivera Restaurant, 1050 S. Flower St., Los Angeles 90015. (213) 749-1460.

Your idea of a taco may be nothing like the one above. What you're seeing here is a shrimp taquito, a  tortilla wrapped around a single whole shrimp with the tail left on, then fried crisp. On top is guacamole and fiery salsa brava.

You'll find this taquito at another downtown restaurant, Yxta, where Mexican classics are updated but the tortillas are still handmade.

Yxta Cocina Mexicana, 601 S. Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90021. (213) 596-5579.

 Look at these twins--they're both ceviche, but not in the usual sense of raw seafood.

The one on the right is beef, and the other is mango, like a mango salad or salsa. They may not be related, but they're a great combination from Cacao Mexicatessen, a modern Mexican deli where you can get such things as bacon-wrapped sea scallops on a bed of esquites (spicy creamed corn), tacos filled with jamaica (hibiscus) flowers and cheese and chipotle-seasoned sweet potato fries.

Cacao Mexicatessen, 1576 Colorado Blvd., Los Angles, CA 90041. (323) 478-2791. 

Silvestre: It's a Summer Place

You're sipping a glass of wine, looking down from your hillside perch at vineyards that seem endless. The food is rustic and delicious. The only sounds are leaves rustling in the cool breezes and muffled, contented talk at other tables.

It's Napa, right? or Provence, perhaps? Wrong.  It's Baja California's Guadalupe Valley, and the place is Silvestre, so far out in the valley that it is virtually isolated. 

The only neighbors are Casa Pedro Domecq on one side and, far in the distance, the blocky white buildings of the L.A. Cetto winery. 

Silvestre opens only in the summer, on Saturdays and Sundays, but summer can continue into early fall.

To get there, you veer off the highway that goes from Ensenada to Tecate onto a dirt road, bounce along to a parking area, then walk beside vineyards to an elevation where tables are set in the dirt. A roof provides shade, but nothing interferes with the stunning views.

The chef behind Silvestre is Benito Molina Dubost, who also has the restaurant Manzanilla in Ensenada. That is where you call to find out how to get to Silvestre and to make reservations. You'll probably want to eat at Manzanilla too, because the seafood can be excellent. It's Molina's specialty.

Silvestre's kitchen (above) is open air, dominated by a grill and a rock-faced counter.  A portable blackboard  that goes from table to table shows the daily menu.  

You might start with creamy gazpacho into which Molina blends a regional cheese, from Ojos Negros.

And you wouldn't want to miss salchichas de cerdo (above), sausages made at Manzanilla from pork meat and rib eye fat and served with mustard and cornichons.

Although the grill is dominant, there are salads too, such as one with cous cous, salty clams, tender greens, cucumber and tomatoes (above).

One Sunday, there was tender, succulent chamorro de borrego (lamb shank), appetizingly browned and nicely plated with carrots, zucchini and yellow squash (above).  Rib eye steak came to the table in its grill pan.

The wine to choose is  M3, which Molina (right)  made at La Escuelita, the school where locals who don't have winery facilities make their wines. It's a blend of  Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes that are grown on the property.

Silvestre opens at 1 p.m., but you will probably order more dishes than you need to eat and more wine so that you can linger until closing time, which is when the sun fades, around 6 p.m.

For information about Silvestre, call Manzanilla Restaurante, Blvd.Teniente Azueta 139, Recinto Porturario, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. 52 (646) 175-7073.