El Segundo’s Jaime has a limited menu of exceptional food
by Richard Foss
Many years ago I saw a cartoon of someone pointing to a vast spread of Mexican food with the caption, “Mexican food – 50 different dishes made with seven ingredients.” As with many jokes, it was only funny because it pointed out an overlooked truth – at many restaurants, the same proteins and vegetables appear in endless combinations. Mexican menus aren’t the only cuisine with this characteristic, and the cartoonist probably picked it because it’s fun to draw and color.
That stereotype was more accurate when it was drawn than in the current day when regional dishes have made many Mexican restaurants more distinctive, and it isn’t applicable at all at Jaime, the stylish, casual El Segundo restaurant that opened in El Segundo earlier this year. With only one exception, which I’ll get to later, the eight different fillings in their tacos aren’t available as tostadas, sopes, gorditas, or anything else. It’s an interesting strategy by the management, because serving all those things would add only minimal complexity to their operation, and nobody that I asked was able to explain it. On my first visit, I thought that the short menu would be bulked out with daily or monthly specials, but a server informed me that they don’t plan to do this. Six months after they started serving, there are still just eight kinds of tacos, three entrees, three starters, and some appetizers and desserts.
This makes things easy for a restaurant review because in only two trips I’ve been able to sample more than half of the items on the menu. Among the starters, we tried their chips and salsa, a type of Michoacan sweet corn tamale called an uchepo, their guacamole topped with sweet and crisped corn, and a Caesar salad made with masa croutons, crisped quinoa, and green tomatoes. That salad was interesting though not entirely to my tastes. The masa croutons were a nifty idea, but the dressing was thin and on the bland side. It could have used some anchovy and pepper, though if you prefer a mild dressing this may be perfect for you. The guacamole topped with corn kernels and crunchy toasted corn was more to my taste, though I found a dash of the oniony salsa roja that came with the chips improved it.
The most interesting of the starters were the uchepos, a Michoacan-style tamale made of pureed sweet corn wrapped with corn masa and steamed in a cornhusk. Wrapping corn with a corn product and steaming it inside another corn product gives you an intense corn flavor that’s like nothing else I’ve tried. These are served over a gently spicy red sauce and topped with a dash of crema, Cotija cheese, and micro greens, and they are a must have. Really, you should visit the restaurant just to try these.
While sitting at the table, trying to figure out what to order, you might notice that the staff T-shirts are emblazoned with “feed me tacos and tell me I’m pretty.” If you guessed that means you should order tacos, congratulations, you are right. They are served in fresh, blue corn tortillas, the filling amounts are ample even on taco Tuesday when they’re on special, and they’re very very good. The Carnitas has a good mix of chopped crisp and soft pork, and there is a delicate chili flavor that is barely perceptible, but adds interest to the dish. The beef cheek is even better, soft and rich meat in an excellent birria sauce topped with crispy melted cheese and micro cilantro. There is a little consomme on the side that some people use to dip chips, but is even better to drink straight as a chaser for the taco. The shrimp Gobernador was a good rendition of a standard item, but the big surprise was the sweet potato taco. The vegetable was mixed with scallions, feta cheese, and crunchy masa and topped with pepita-almond salsa. This was almost sweet enough to be a dessert item, but taking a bite of one of these after one of the more savory tacos was a delightful break that made you ready to experience those flavors with a fresh palate.
When you order those tacos, get a side of Mayocoba beans – not because you’ll starve if you don’t, but because these are really good beans with a more intense flavor than you’re probably expecting.
On another visit, we tried two of the three entrées, the striped bass in Guillo chili sauce and the crispy, braised pork shank pastor style. The Bass was the only item that we were not pleased with, because the fish was a little overcooked and dry, but the pork shank was stunning. This was no surprise, because pork shank is also a stand out item at sister restaurant Jame, located just a few blocks away. Here the shank is slow braised until it’s almost done, glazed with pineapple and achiote sauce and then roasted to give it a crisp caramelized exterior. This is a large enough portion for two light eaters, maybe even two with normal appetites, and it’s very much worth getting.
We paired our meals with margaritas from their short list – as with the meal selections, they offer a few things made very well. The Jamaica Josh and the classic are both very well balanced, and the Oaxaca old-fashioned is one of the best mezcal versions of this particular drink that I’ve experienced.
We tried only one of the desserts, the tres leches cake, which I unfortunately did not find satisfying. The traditional tres leches has bold flavor of goat or sheep milk, which was almost completely absent here. It was a good cream cake, but didn’t live up to our expectations.
We noticed they offer breakfast burritos, seven days a week, so stopped by again to try those. The experience was different than at dinner because you order at the counter using a computer touchscreen rather than with a server. It wasn’t hard to figure out what to order because they offer only burritos and nonalcoholic drinks at this time of day. We ordered one bacon burrito and one carnitas burrito, and they arrived within only a few minutes. These maybe my favorite breakfast burritos in the South Bay, made with a type of egg called Chino Valley golden yolk that has a high density, and scrambling that with heavy cream makes it quite unlike typical scrambled eggs. The bacon was very crisp and had been well trimmed so that it wasn’t greasy, and it was notably, low salt so that you didn’t feel thirsty after eating it. As for the Carnitas, it was just as good as it had been in the tacos, though a bit more oily than I remembered. I reminded myself of the old chef’s adage, “fat is flavor,” and kept eating. The burritos were topped with crisped Oaxaca cheese and served with micro greens and your choice of salsa. The habanero is one of the rare source using this chili that I actually liked, because they didn’t go overboard on the heat. With cups of good coffee (refills provided), the burrito was a spicy and satisfying way to start the day.
The most significant thing to say about our meals at Jaime is that after each of them, we left talking about what we were going to try the next time we went.
Jaime is at 450 Main Street in El Segundo. Open daily at 8 a.m. Closes 8:30 p.m. Su.-Thurs. 9 p.m. Fri. – Sat. Small parking lot in rear, or street parking. Full bar A few vegetarian/vegan items. Sound level moderate. (310) 648-8231. Jaimetaqueria.com. ER
