RESTAURANT REVIEW – Going Old School
Cali Cantina’s Esteban, Manny, Kristin, Joel, Juanita, and Carlos serve dinner and the restaurant’s signature margaritas. Photo Cali Cantina’s recipe harkens back to Mexican restaurants fifty years ago — a short menu, big margaritas, and no pretension Whenever I hear that a new Mexican restaurant is opening, I wonder what new fusion idea they’ll feature, what regional specialty. It’s a reasonable expectation, since our options have become so varied in the last decade. Tortillas made to order and specialties like Oaxacan moles and Yucatecan seafood used to be impossible to find in the South Bay, but now hardly raise an eyebrow. So it was a surprise when the newest Mexican restaurant in the area opened with a menu that was so old-school that it might have been composed fifty years ago. When Cali Cantina debuted I thought that they might be deliberately starting with a limited menu that they would expand later, a common tactic in the industry. Since then it hasn’t budged – a list of the tacos, burritos, fajitas, and simple items that are the backbone of California Mexican food. The name suggests that this place is designed to attract a crowd that is drinking as much as eating – their…
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