mex appeal

[March 14th, 2007] Sometimes it feels as if, in our search for cultural authenticity, Portlanders miss out on the experiences that bind our country together. Like the Americanized Mexican restaurant where you go with coworkers for after-work margaritas. Luckily, Los Baez lets us be one with our suburban brethren while supporting a local, family-owned business.

Opened last October by Salem-based brothers Angel, Raul and Alberto Baez (they own a second Los Baez in Salem, and recently sold their eight other eateries to family members) the place doesn't look like a Chili's. The airplane-hangar-like box is the opposite of cozy. Service ranges from efficient and friendly to flaky and aloof. Go at lunchtime, when the space is nearly empty and the servers' attention is less divided.

Warm chips and fresh-tasting jalapeno salsa arrive almost instantly and provide brain fuel for decoding the long menu, which seems to repeat many of the same items in different combinations. A typical dinner plate, at $8.95, combines a creamy bean-and-guacamole burrito with a saucy, if spongy, chile relleno, Spanish rice, lard-free black or refried pinto beans and homemade flour tortillas, which are warm and fresh, if slightly undercooked and translucent.

The Baez family hails from Michoacán, a Mexican state on the Pacific coast, so it's not surprising they excel at seafood dishes, like pescado Michoacána ($10.95), a big old mess of true cod. Just barely cooked, the fish retains its flavor and is complemented by a mild ranchero sauce and grilled green bell peppers. The ubiquitous rice, beans and tortillas make it a huge meal.

For lunch (or a late hangover breakfast), try the huevos rancheros ($5.95 à la carte), whose usual eggs and beans are topped with big, juicy bites of grilled steak.

Desserts include sopaipillas ($3.95), honeyed tortilla pastries that on one visit were tender and puffy but were tough on another, and vanilla fried ice cream ($3.95), which tastes suspiciously un-fried. In fact, it tastes like they just took ice cream and rolled it in flaky cereal. But it's still got that creamy-crunchy thing going on and it's topped with goopy chocolate, whipped cream and a cherry, which makes the dish hard to resist in a gluttonous kind of way. The same goes for the cocktails, which are often unnatural shades of green and blue and served in hurricane glasses with whipped cream and cherries, like the Baez Tropical ($6.50) with blue curaÇao, Midori, white crème de cacao and pineapple juice.

Sure, the Baez atmosphere leaves something to be desired and the restaurant definitely has an un-hip, un-Portland feel—which, depending on what you're looking for, is a good thing or a bad thing. Either way it's a nice change from plain old burritos, and it's somewhat comforting to know that there's a place in this quirky burgh of ours where they crown you with a sombrero on your birthday.