Friday, January 30, 1998
Tortilla Grill serves up favorites at friendly cost
RESTAURANT: Simplicity, charm, traditional Mexican food mix well
at Venice grill
By Jessica Holt
Daily Bruin Contributor
Pastel-colored houses line a cobblestoned street. A sun-soaked
beach glistens in the background. Palm trees bend ever so slightly
in the breeze. A sign framing the scene invitingly says
"Bienvenidos a Tortilla Grill." It’s not a window to paradise but
rather an endearing wall mural adding eclectic charm to a Mexican
joint that differentiates itself from scores of Mexican fast-food
franchises that dot the L.A. landscape.
Nestled in Venice between an interesting mix of liquor stores
and upscale furniture boutiques, the Tortilla Grill offers good old
fashioned Mexican food at student-friendly prices.
The vibrantly colored pinatas, plastic ivy curling along the
walls, and red-checkered table cloths separate this small eatery
from the L.A. chic of Baja Fresh and La Salsa. Catering to a large
to-go clientele, the Tortilla Grill is tiny. Yet with five tables
and ample bar space, this little hole-in-the-wall exudes quaint
character which invites customers to forget about the L.A.
scene.
This restaurant is not about fine dining and service. The
emphasis lies strictly on the food. Orders are brought to the table
when ready, but that is the extent of the service. Customers can
pick up pastel paper napkins and plastic utensils next to the cash
register.
The food also receives recognition for its unpretentiousness and
simplicity. Entrees from tortas to burritos to combination plates
range in price from as little as $2.75 for a Chico Burrito to $7.95
for the Super Grande Plato, consisting of an enchilada, a taco,
chili releno, and a tamale. Most dishes fall somewhere around
$5.
The Tortilla Grill gives the customer a lot of food for the
money – always a plus for hungry, broke students. The soups and
salads, such as the black-bean soup ($2.95), are enough to satiate
one for an entire meal. This soup is truly recommended. The mixture
of beans, sour cream, Jack cheese, and pico de gallo combines to
make a earthy, hearty and refreshingly different soup.
The burritos are definitely the centerpieces of this down-home
menu. Huge and stuffed with a choice of chicken breast, steak,
pork, fish, and veggies ($4.45-$4.65), the burritos are filling and
can serve as lunch the next day as well. The daring or hungry can
choose the Macho Burrito ($5.25) which takes any of the
above-mentioned burritos and buries them under sour cream, cheese
enchilada sauce, and guacamole.
The menu also offers traditional tortas ($4.75-$4.95),
quesadillas ($3.25-$3.95), fajitas ($5.95-$6.45), and combination
plates ($5.95-$7.95). All these items are served in heaping
portions.
The plato de enchilada ($5.95), consisting of cheese and chicken
enchiladas served with beans, rice, sour cream, guacamole, and
grilled green onions could easily feed two people. Beware the
enchilada sauce though; it is extremely spicy. The guacamole also
seems to lack any major flavor and falls a little flat for avid
guac fans.
All of these dishes are prepared in the health-conscious way of
the 90’s. Even mom and pop are feeling the pressure from their
younger, stylish competitors. The menu proclaims "Tortilla Grill
cares for you!" and then runs though the regular list of healthful
eating – skinless chicken, extra-lean meat, cholesterol free oil,
no lard – that the L.A. area has adopted (but this wouldn’t fly in
Ohio!).
Even so, the food still gives one that "guilty feeling" of a
splurge well worth it. Unlike the crisp burritos of Baja Fresh,
this food feels like mom made it.
In a final nod to the trends of today, Tortilla Grill also
offers a wide array of smoothies and shakes. The smoothies ($2.75)
are made with fresh fruit, juice, and non-fat yogurt and one can
add the usual array of ingredients (wheat grass, protein, honey,
etc.) for 25 cents extra per item.
The shakes ($2.50) are made with low-fat or non-fat milk, frozen
yogurt, and various other ingredients. The oreo cookie ($2.50), a
satisfying drink of frozen yogurt, oreo cookie crumbs, chocolate
syrup, and milk, calms the stomach after a spicy meal.
The huge portions of this homestyle hearty food in the end
should endear this little dive to any money-minded person, student
or not. Lacking in pretension and trendy chic, the gaudiness of the
grill only engages the customer to feel at home. Even the attempts
to accommodate the healthy inclinations of today’s clientele can
not hide what this restaurant is really about: hearty, filling
food.
DERRICK KUDO
The Tortilla Grill in Venice serves a wide array of Mexican
entrees in a down-home setting.