La dama es muy caliente! …is all we can think of whenever Silvia is taking us to a patio seat at the Border Grill. Chef Mike Minor may make some the best Mexican food outside of Mexico, but she could even make roasted chapulines with fried cuchuma over braised chinicuiles taste muy perfecto.
BORDER GRILL
It may seem incongruous to some, but it’s pretty much a given that the two best Mexican restaurants In America are Topolobampo in Chicago (founded by chef/owner Rick Bayless — a guy from Oklahoma) and the Border Grill in Santa Monica (owned by a couple of gringo-white, California gals named Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken). Why more chefs/restaurateurs don’t try to duplicate the passion for authenticity found in these two places is a puzzlement to ELV, but we’re just glad someone in America has brought faithful renditions of this marvelous cuisine north of the border.
Added non-food-related bonus: Thanks to a groovy re-design by assemblageStudio, you can now enjoy all this organic, true-to-its-roots food amongst rammed earth subsoil paneling (whatever the hell that is.) ELV is no arch-i-teck, but assemblageStudio’s Eric Strain (an Official Friend of ELV) is, and if he tells us this textured decor method (?) dates to the days of the Anasazi, we believe him and assume this must be a good thing.
Bryan Ogden Is Tired Of Making His Father Money
One of the worst kept secrets in the Las Vegas restaurant world over the past four years was the…er….uh….frosty relationship between Bryan Ogden and pere Bradley. One of the reasons Bryan pulled up stakes and headed to the land of big egos and bad manners (after helming Bradley Ogden in Caesars Palace to great success) was to carve out his own name among the food cognescenti of LaLa Land, and to distance himself from B.O. and his B.O. legacy. Now in an interview in this week’s Nation’s Restaurant News (www.NRN.com) he explains his menu (at Apple in West Hollywood, www.dimentia.com/clients/apple/), and that: “My dad is not involved. We have different food, and it’s time to break away on my own. I’m tired of making him money.” Ouch!
Read the rest of the interview here.