Mexican time machine [restaurant review]
The entrance is inviting, but for now inside dining is now allowed. Photo by JP Cordero One hundred and ten years ago, railroad magnate Henry Huntington cashed in on a craze inspired by a melodramatic novel. Helen Hunt Jackson’s “Ramona” was set in Spanish California, and it set off a craze for tamales, enchiladas, and other Mexican dishes. The story inspired Huntington to open Casa Verdugo, which set the standard for dining in white walled, high-ceilinged rancho splendor. A Mexican dance troupe and children’s choir performed regularly, and the courtyard was stocked with pampered farm animals and chickens that did not fear the cookpot. The people who opened the first Red Onion Inglewood in 1949 didn’t have such a grand vision. The Inglewood location had just 15 seats, but by the time they opened in the South Bay their restaurants followed Hunintington’s fantasy model (minus the live chickens). I had my first encounter with one of their vast tostadas when my parents took me to the Red Onion in Manhattan Beach when I was probably 10 years old. The appearance of the place was part of the attraction, a bright, airy space that put humbler establishments nearby in the shade. That…
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