A Max Minute: El Segundo Sol
I’ve long admired Rich Melman of Lettuce Entertain You above all other American restaurant operators, including New York’s Danny Meyer (a Great One as well.) Melman has Eiffel Tower, Mon Ami Gabi and the new, awkwardly named El Segundo Sol at Fashion Show Mall, which just replaced Café Ba-ba-reeba, a Spanish tapas restaurant.
Tapas has always been a tough sell in this country, and the oversized, somewhat tame versions of them Melman did here, just never jelled in this town. (Julian Serrano is doing his best to dispel that notion at his eponymous Aria Spanish restaurant, but admittedly, they are smaller.)
The foot traffic at Fashion Show Mall isn’t as sophisticated as the upscale business and convention types trolling though Aria, so Melman decided he had to make a change. And as he’s proven again and again, he’s probably right to have done so.
The result is a partially converted room, whose most attractive feature may be the Street Taco stand open to the Strip in the dead front of the room.
The trademark colorful wallpaper remains, a fresco now dappled with oblique references to sunny Mexico. Part of the wall still beckons you to the Plaza de Toros. But now, Mexican icon Frida Kahlo gazes at you from the wall as well, her lips red as sangria.
Food is in the capable hands of Mon Ami Gabi chef Terry Lynch, who has spent a lot of time in Mexico. Some of the dishes are fine. But the main problem is, they just aren’t taking any chances with authenticity. Once burned, Mr. Melman, twice shy? It doesn’t have to work that way.
So while many dishes here are tasty, they need more sol, er, soul. You have to wade through the avocado to get to the tasty tuna pieces in a market priced ceviche, while a chipotle Caesar salad is delicious, with lots of toasted pumpkin seeds laced throughout it.
Red snapper Veracruz style was fine, but would have been better had the skin been crisp, as it always is south of the border. Our beef fajitas were based on what seemed like a high quality, nicely marinated flank steak. Everything was arranged on a sizzling platter, minus the sizzle.
Why not use pumpkin seeds to make pipian, an excellent sauce that Mexican home cooks prepare with gusto? “We’re working toward it,” Lynch told me.
Well, there is a slightly bitter mole, the complex sauce made with chocolate, and usually at least twenty other spices. “So far it hasn’t been a big seller,” the chef admitted. The customers here are eating their chicken as fajitas, not topped with mole.
I guess. If Melman is thinking, if Max is so smart, why ain’t he rich? He is probably right again. Oh, and PS, Can you get me Rick Bayless’ cell?
At Fashion Show Mall. 258-1211.
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Looks like Melman is dedicated to doing what he should be (and has been) doing. This restaurant isn’t supposed to re-write Mexican cooking. He’s a businessman. The food looks good and will make most of the folks out there (aka touristas) happy. There are no apples to apples comparisons in this town that come to mind. And yes, Max, how come you ain’t rich?