DINING REVIEW

Kathy Mader

It’s here. Christmas shopping. Don’t let yourself get weak in the

knees and foggy in the brain. Fortify yourselves, people. The best way I

know to do this is food -- good, spicy, flavorful and interesting food.

If you do it right, you can eat before, during and after you shop. I

understand that not all of you are as hardy as I, nor require the

constant feedings that I do. But when it comes to South Coast Plaza,

clearly I have a place in mind, a place where you can get as warmed on

the inside as you are cool on the outside -- Z Tejas, a

Southwestern-style restaurant near the carousel on the first floor.

Z Tejas is one cool restaurant, and Brian’s -- my husband -- latest

favorite. The warm-colored mahogany and caramel-colored woods with

splashes of bright, Southwestern inspired design create a coziness in

addition to a hipness that should appeal to almost everyone. Let me say

with emphasis that this is not the southwestern decor of the late ‘80s in

pastels and burnished goat skulls. Z Tejas’ designer took the very best

from the desert and the culture and incorporated it well into their

restaurant.

The Z Tejas crowd includes all sorts, from the elegant woman of

Newport, the hip singles and the harried shoppers to the

jeans-and-sweater crowd (me). They welcome everyone. They welcome

everyone looking for more information and the history of the restaurant

to their Web site at o7 https://www.ztejas.com.

f7 Z Tejas has the kind of menu I would label an “exciting read” if

this were the kind of thing that excites you. It certainly does me. Any

place that serves a “Bananas Fosters French toast” for brunch; a smoked

chicken, fruit, and green chile mole-stuffed poblano chile for lunch;

“Gorgonzola N.Y. Strip” steak with caramelized onion for dinner; and an

ancho chile fudge pie for dessert is as intriguing as it gets. The

skillet of corn bread delivered upon being seated certainly doesn’t hurt

either.

As always, it is the appetizers that grab and hold (in this case for

days) my attention. With Brian, it is always the meat dishes. Z Tejas

gets a fork up from the both of us. Because I do the actual work, we

ordered more appetizers than meat dishes, from the delicious and very

new-to-me catfish beignets ($6.95), cornmeal crusted and fried pieces of

catfish served with a jalapeno tartar sauce, to the cast iron skillet

dumplings of shrimp and pork ($ 7.95), steamed and then seared and served

with a red chile ginger sauce.

Be careful though. When they say “seared on a cast iron skillet,” they

mean right then and there, and this can hurt, even if you have an

asbestos mouth. Z Tejas’s seared sesame ahi is served with a spicy soy

mustard plus a black peppercorn vinaigrette, and rivals anyone’s in the

business. Brian dreams of this in his sleep.

When I asked Mike, our terrific server, which I should order, the

gumbo or the tortilla soup, he said absolutely the tortilla soup. And he

was so right. If I were to ever do another article on my top 10 soups,

this would be right up there. Wrap this up, stick a bow on it and give it

to me for Christmas. Please. I could eat this every day.

One thing I enjoyed especially about the menu was the humbling labels

given to each entree. Only until you read the definition do you

understand the true creativity, and your mouth begins to water. A classic

example was the “herb grilled chicken,” which Brian ordered, and which,

by that name alone, I would never order unless I was in the throes of the

carbo-deprived Atkins diet (in which case I would be half delirious

anyway). However, the herb grilled chicken ($8.95) was actually a grilled

breast stuffed with artichoke hearts, wild mushrooms, onions and spinach,

topped with a soy mustard sauce and pumpkin seeds. That’s what I’m

talking about! (Be aware that the dinner version is a little different

and we haven’t tried it yet)

But next on my list of dinner entrees is the Sonoran crab stuffed

shrimp ($15.95) , jumbo shrimp stuffed with crab meat and then rolled in

thinly cut tortilla strips, flash fried and served with a blackberry

wasabi sauce. The presentation is out of this world. Literally.

This article doesn’t begin to do the menu justice, however Z Tejas’

dessert menu metes out its own kind of justice with a banana creme pie in

a chocolate graham crust ($$4.95), lined with dark chocolate, loaded with

chunks of fresh banana and . . . oh, forget it. If you want the rest of

this description, you know where to find me. Now you know what I mean

when I say I am “going shopping,” and why I never get tired of it.

* KATHY MADER’s dining reviews appear every other Thursday.

FYI

What: Z Tejas

Where: 3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa (inside South Coast Plaza)

When: Lunch starts at 11 a.m., Dinner starts at 4 p.m.

How much: Moderate

Call: (714) 979-7469

Web site: o7 https://www.ztejas.com

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