Red O

An amazing new LA restaurant opened Memorial Day weekend brought about by the incredible chef from Chicago, Rick Bayless.  On his PBS cooking show, Mexico: One Plate at a Time, Chef Rick demystifies the Mexican cuisine and makes it abundantly clear that there is a lot more depth to their culinary tradition than refried beans and Taco Bell.  The ambiance of Red O (O is short for Onion) is LA chic meets old world Mexico.  Every detail was superbly considered and the abundance of candlelight set against the whitewashed adobe walls and wrought iron fixtures set the mood for an intimate dining experience.  The wait staff was plentiful and paid attention to our table, as I’m sure they did all guests.  I’d take a sip of water and seconds later my glass was filled.  Fantastic!  We started with Sangria and the guacamole.  I asked our server about their habanero salsa as I didn’t see it on the menu but loved it at Rick’s La Frontera Grill in Chicago last year and was looking forward to it at Red O.  She said that they have it but that it is so spicy they don’t advertise it and it is available by request only.  Say no more, bring it on!  Out came a trio of fresh salsa; red, green and habanero. 

The food is so scrumptious I hate to go on about salsa but for those of us that love flavors that tip the scoville scale the habanero salsa is sublime.  It is packed with heat AND has a real depth of flavor with habanero pepper and fresh lime juice blended to capsaicin perfection.  After the guacamole came a Halibut ceviche with cilantro-serrano chimichurri with cucumber and alvacado.  Amazing!  Then the entries, Christine had the farm roasted vegetable enchiladas covered in a roasted tomato and cheese sauce while I had the Camarones al Mojo de Ajo (wood-grilled Mazatlan Blue shrimp with slow-roasted garlic and wood grilled knob onions) with Veracruz-style white rice with sweet plantains.  We ate slowly savoring every morsel.  It was a remarkable meal.  To top it all off we decided on the bunuelos covered in a cinnamon chocolate sauce with a scoop of caramel and salt ice cream, delicious.  The entire experience was a superb definition of how to celebrate food.  We’ll be back again and again; too bad it’s a 5 hour drive from Phoenix.