• Lisa Breckenridge
• Posted by: Dennis Lovelace

Redondo Beach (myFOXla.com) - In Lisa’s LA, just in time for Cinco De Mayo we head to Redondo Beach for a look at a new, modern Mexican restaurant that has already won local and international awards for it’s food and bar.

Ortega 120
1814 South Pacific Coast Hwy
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
www.ortega120.com

Mexican food by the beach will appeal to even the pickiest palate.

MEXICAN cooking doesn’t get as much respect as it should in Southern California, at least in terms of formal restaurants. Taco trucks are generally where you find the best Mexican nosh. But now Thomas Ortega — a veteran of the kitchens of Water Grill, Lucques and Patina — and his friend Demi Stevens have opened an unusually appealing Mexican restaurant in Redondo Beach.

A trio of metal folk sculptures of musicians stand outside the doors of Ortega120, located right on PCH. Inside is a sprawling bar stocked with a stupendous array of premium tequila (and a flat-screen TV at the very back for anybody who wants to catch a game). The dining room is painted in bright Frida Kahlo colors, the walls hung with whimsical folk art from Mexico — crucifixes, masks, carvings and Day of the Dead motifs. There’s also an outdoor patio for catching the breeze while snacking on housemade chips and complex, smoky salsa.

The menu is very specific. Guacamole, for example, is made with Hass avocados, red onion, cilantro and lime juice. Chunky and delicious, it’s here and then it’s gone, gone, gone. Ortega also makes a killer version of queso fundido. That’s a molten cheese dip made with Oaxacan cheese, housemade chorizo (when’s the last time you saw housemade chorizo on a Mexican restaurant’s menu?), mushrooms and spinach.

The tortillas are all made right there and you can taste the difference. The shrimp cocktail features meaty Mexican white shrimp in a wonderfully spicy sauce.

This is a chef who sources his ingredients carefully.

He’s also got some modern takes on Mexican classics — for example, a taco stuffed with sushi-grade ahi tuna, roasted corn, fresh mango and more. If you love tacos, go for the “Tour de Tacos,” a platter of five different street-style (i.e., small) soft tacos — al pastor, pollo, carne asada, shrimp and carnitas. At $17, given the quality of the ingredients, it’s quite the bargain.

Platos principales (main courses) include a deliriously good lamb shank birria braised in a chile broth and served with garnishes and handmade tortillas. I wouldn’t say no to the carnitas plate either, with pickled red onion and fluffy lime-scented rice. Or the mahi mahi in mole verde.

Just those few dishes are enough to get the idea that Ortega120 is a cut above. For diehard gringos, Ortega has even put a Kobe burger on the menu, with a Mexican twist that includes Ortega chiles and queso asadero, and a pan de leche bun. Smart — and fun.

Polish off a meal here with an order of freshly made churros (squiggles of fried dough) with a chocolate dipping sauce. Somehow, I think I’ll be back. There’s certainly nowhere near the beach where you can find such heartfelt Mexican cooking.

When you’ve got something good, you want to experience it in all its dazzling variety — if not, how come you can’t enter your kitchen without climbing over the Costco Frosted/Honey Nut/Berry Burst Cheerios 3-pack? Do it with tequila, at Ortega120, opening Monday.

Tsotchke’d up with Dia de los Muertos figures and toy low-riders, O120’s a casual Mexican joint on PCH in Redondo Beach, with a tortillaria at the entrance, car-upholstered banquettes in the main room, and (most importantly) a central, black-topped bar stocked with 120 tequilas, one for every minute you once hung with Matt Pinfield. Selections range from “barrio tequilas” like Montezuma and Jalesco, to standbys like Sauza, to a $60 sipper of Partida Elegante; specialty cocktails are also anejo’d up, e.g., the Patron Silver Pomegranate Ginger Margarita and the grapefruity Sauza Hornitas “La Luz”, translated as “The Light” (to be drunk, not walked into). To soak it all up, O120 serves up tortas, tacos, etc, plus heartier dishes like chile rellenos w/shortrib, and carnitas w/chile verde, cotija cheese, and lime-scented rice — doggy bag some to use as potpourri after a long night of carnitas w/ chile verde.

Soon, O120’s adding tequila flights to its arsenal, with special attention paid to complimentary flavor profiles — because tequila’s become such an expansive category, the wrong trio could end up going down like Cheerios, Lucky Charms, and Fiber One.

Check out the drinks and the food menu

The Drink: Caipirinha de Fruta
The Source: Demi Stevens, co-owner of Ortega120 in Redondo Beach, Calif.
The Inspiration: Stevens makes this variation on the classic caipirinha, a cachaca-based drink,
for her friends and family during hot summer days. “This is a beautiful, very tall, floating fruit
drink,” she says. But be careful, she warns: “It goes down easy and it packs a punch.”
The Recipe:
1 1/2 oz. Leblon Cachaca (pisco can also be substituted for a different type of flavor)
1/2 oz. peach schnapps
1/4 oz. grenadine
2 oz. orange juice
3 pineapple pieces (diced)
Handful of fresh raspberries
Handful of strawberries and peaches (the peaches and strawberries can be frozen if fresh are not
available; they make fun, fruity ice cube alternatives)
Lime wedges
In a shaker, pour all ingredients (except strawberries and peaches) over ice. Shake vigorously.
Pour into Collins glass over peaches and strawberries. Add ice to fill. Garnish with lime wedges.

Tacos de atun Crudo: Ahi poke style blue fin tuna, roasted corn, fresh mango, cilantro, roasted red peppers, chile oil, guacamole, and crisp taco shells. Sounds yummy at Ortega 120 in Redondo Beach.

Chef Thomas Ortega and close friend Demi Stevens recently opened Ortega120 in Redondo Beach, specializing in modern Mexican food and a tequila list that runs 120 bottles deep. The space hosts a tortilleria (where fresh tortillas are made), a patio with water features and a black-top bar with models of low-rider cars. Old Mexican movies play on a water wall. Ortega apprenticed at Water Grill, Lucques, Spago Beverly Hills and Patina. The massive menu at Ortega120 features dishes like braised beef short rib enchiladas with red chile guajillo sauce and cotija cheese; a roasted half-chicken with house-made mole; and pan-seared red snapper in a sauce of onion, tomato, peppers, garlic and white wine. For dessert, fresh-made churros come with chocolate dipping sauce. To drink, The 120 Margarita features tequila, fresh-squeezed lemon and lime and a “double top secret ingredient.” Open daily for lunch and dinner. Ortega120, 1814 South Pacific Coast Hwy., Redondo Beach, CA 90277, 310-792-4120.

For those who think we don’t get to enough outlying neighborhoods, here we have Ortega120, a new Mexican spot in the South Bay. What can we say, we like the pictures. Just south of Redondo Beach, the dining room, patio and small lounge have all the appropriate accents: bright colors, banquettes covered in vintage car upholstery, low-rider cars, Frida Kahlo, old Mexican movies projected on the walls. The menu from chef/co-owner Thomas Ortega, who says he apprenticed at Water Grill, Lucques, Spago and Patina, focuses on homestyle Mexican recipes and runs the gamut from handmade tortillas, tacos, tortas, salads. Fresh fruit cocktails and margaritas made with a “double secret ingredient” round out the drink menu.

by Richard Foss
Published June 12, 2008

Busting Out All Over… The rush of new restaurant openings in Redondo has been amazing – at every price level, we’re getting new dining options. Some look like sure winners, others like interesting gambles. One of the more intriguing is Ortega 120, a high-end Mexican place in the space on PCH that was briefly Rockin’ Baja Lobster. Rockin’ Baja was doomed from the start – they didn’t offer anything that wasn’t already done well in the area and didn’t do anything to differentiate themselves from the Mexican party bar crowd. Ortega 120 is aiming at the increasingly popular modern and regional Mexican market, and offers some interesting menu items and striking décor. The dramatically lit Mexican folk art is visually arresting, just the setting to tuck into mahi mahi in green mole or lamb shank birria. They’ve only been open for a week and I haven’t eaten there yet, but I’m looking forward to the experience.

]]> http://www.ortega120.com/120blog/?feed=rss2&p=6 http://www.ortega120.com/120blog/?p=5 http://www.ortega120.com/120blog/?p=5#comments Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:00:00 +0000 admin http://www.ortega120.com/120blog/?p=5

Article Launched: 06/12/2008 08:48:10 PM PDT

Honestly, it’s hard to get excited over the opening of a new Mexican restaurant.

This is not to say I’m jaded. Or that I don’t like Mexican cooking. But there is a certain frustration that comes from looking at a menu and feeling a massive wave of deja vu. The same old same old: Rice and beans, beans and rice. Starch and starch with starch.

Which is why it’s a treat to look at the menu at the newly opened Ortega 120 and have a sense of newness sweep over you.

Though the basics are the same (you’ve got to have your guacamole, your tacos and your enchiladas), there’s plenty on the menu that isn’t the same. It’s like a breath of fresh air - or at least air flavored with chiles.

Ortega 120 (the name comes from the number of tequilas on hand) sits in the space that used to be home to Frascati and Rockin’ Baja Lobster.

Interestingly, this concept seems to fit in the space better than anything that came before; it’s a cantina space, and Ortega is very much a cantina.

There’s a big bar, a big backroom past the bar, a sprawling dining room, and an outdoor patio that’s a real treat when the weather turns warm - a good place to linger over a chunky margarita or one of the many house drinks.

The Ortega in Ortega 120 is Thomas Ortega, a culinary school graduate who’s worked at Water Grill, Lucques, Spago and Patina - which makes his current project all the more unexpected. You wouldn’t expect a graduate of some of the top restaurants in town to be cooking gorditas and taquitos. Or would you?

In recent years, more than a few upscale chefs have opted for downscale restaurants - such as Master of Classic French Cuisine Hubert Keller, who operates both the fine dining Fleur de Lys in Las Vegas and his nearby Burger Bar. The chefs at Zeke’s Smokehouse in Hollywood and Montrose both put in their years doing fine dining on the Westside. And for awhile, Robert Bell of Chez Melange was cooking burgers and dogs in Torrance.

Going down-market seems to be both fun - and profitable.

In the case of Ortega 120, chef Ortega and his partner, Demi Stevens, seem to be having a ball creating and re-creating Mexican cooking as we know it.

And they’re doing it in a room decorated in high Mexican kitsch, including cabinets filled with tchotchkes from La Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead); Mexican movies are projected on a wall opposite the bar (my hope is that they start showing some Masked Wrestler films, which I fell in love with in Mexico many years ago).

It’s a cool joint.

To get you in the mood for all this silliness, there’s a bar menu thick with the sort of libations that go down far too easy: such as the pomegranate-ginger flavored margarita; the Pink Martini (made with watermelon and ginger); and the Horchata Margarita (which is sort of like drinking alcoholic rice pudding - wow!).

If you prefer beer, try the Michelada, a classic made with Tecate served over ice with lime and salt; or the Pacificos de Diaz - two bottles of Pacifico with lime and chile-flavored salt.

The chef has done his best to come up with new ways of doing classic dishes - along with new dishes not often seen at Mexican eateries.

The house guacamole, for instance, is made with avocado (of course), but also chopped red onions, chopped cilantro, lime juice and a scattering of queso fresco (think mozzarella); there’s a lot of complexity in every bite, especially spread on the nice warm tortillas made fresh at a comal at the front of the restaurant.

Thomas Ortega seems to have a fascination with the wide world of Mexican cheeses. His nachos are an impressive pile, topped with queso asadero and queso ranchero; his queso fundido is built around queso Oaxaca and queso asadero; and there’s queso fresco and queso Oaxaca in the terrific quesadilla de chorizo, which is also made with a chipotle-flavored sour cream.

Rather than just tossing around names, a moment’s explanation is probably worthwhile.

Queso fresco is made from a combination of cow and goat milk and tastes a lot like feta. Queso Oaxaca is a stretchy cheese that works very well in quesadillas; it’s akin to mozzarella. Queso asadero is a fine melty cheese, much like Monterey jack. And queso ranchero is usually a ricottatype cheese, though the name can be used for a variety of cheeses.

So, now you know.

What you should also know is that the botanas (the small tapaslike dishes) at Ortega make for a very satisfying meal. I really enjoyed the gorditas de res, essentially fried masa dumplings filled with braised beef short ribs, queso Oaxaca and cilantro, then topped with an avocado-tomatillo salsa.

And how about those taquitos? They’re crunchy and crackly, with a filling of … so much. There’s spinach and mushrooms and potatoes and sour cream and salsa and queso fresco.

There’s also a taco filled with raw sushi-grade bluefin tuna, which is about as modern as things get; and a snappy salad of jicama and mango (now, that’s fun) with peppery greens and a lemon vinaigrette.

If you’re particularly hungry, head for the lamb shank birria, nearly a pound of lamb shank in a spicy chile broth; or the chicken in mole negro - a sauce of chocolate and chiles that chef Ortega has down pat. He makes a terrific plate of carnitas Nortenas as well - a half-pound of crispy pork pieces over a bed of well-cooked rice flavored with lime.

Like I said, this is a chef with a pleasantly variant take on Mexican food - and a restaurant where that variant take is carried out from beginning to end.

That’s true even with the desserts, where the choices go well beyond flan into the realm of a Jarritos Flan made with lime or orange Jarritos soda and vanilla bean ice cream; and an iced cappuccino made with Patron Cafe XO and vanilla vodka.

Now, that’s a way to finish a meal.

and pictures of Zapata, Pancho Villa, Frida Kahlo, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Aztec warriors - and a lot of Mexican babes from a half-century ago on the wall of the men’s room.
Merrill Shindler talks about restaurants from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays on KLSX-97.1.

Brazil’s favorite drink makes waves in L.A.

By Katherine Tulich
June 19, 2008

Despite its tongue-twisting name, this Brazilian import, which muddles cachaça (distilled from sugar cane) with lime and sugar, is fast becoming the drink du jour, as restaurants embrace its many variations to pair it with a variety of different cuisines.

ORTEGA 120

This newly opened beachside restaurant serves its own caipirinha de fruta with frozen peaches and peach schnapps.
It teams handily with Ortega’s modern Mexican cuisine, such as bite-size tacos de atún crudo with ahi tuna, jicama and mango salad, and ceviche de tilapia. “The fresh flavors go brilliantly with the clean fruity flavor of the drink,” says owner Demi Stevens. 1814 S. Pacific Coast Highway, Redondo Beach. (310) 792-4120.  See full Note