On one of the evenings during our stay at the Lafayette I made reservations for dinner at Quixote. I had really enjoyed our meals in Oaxaca and was looking forward to this dinner. Like the rest of the hotel; the restaurant's decor is a trip. Apparently, the furnishing were originally from a Catholic Church in Oaxaca. Man, was it kinda strange…..think Dark – foreboding, David Lynch.
I think the photos speak (hopefully not in a deep scary bass) for itself.
The stained glass……
And statue of Lucifer.
The candles, wax hanging…..
The altar behind the bar….
We were encouraged to check out the various rooms…..
Before returning to our table, right below the statue of "Lucifer". We had already placed our order. Our Server, Jacob was amazing, he encouraged us to check things out. Though I kinda wonder about working with all of this around you! The place was quite quiet, and to be perfectly honest, kinda spooky, before the crowds descended on the place.
You gotta appreciate the kitsch…..very spooky kitsch.
Keeping with the theme, many of the cocktails were mezcal and tequila based. I really enjoyed the Mezcal Old Fashioned.
As is our MO we stayed with all appetizers to make our meal.
First up, the Crab Corn Donut ($21).
Man, I loved this. This is the way crab tasted when I was a kid. I appreciated the fact that the donut added heft without being too sweet. The crab flavor was a bit too strong for the Missus. We both enjoyed the hint of spice in the rich sauce.
The Ceviche ($17) seemed by the book.
The snapper was marinated nicely; good texture no off flavors. I will say that there was not enough acidity in the dish for our taste.
Of course there were tortillas.
The Squash Blossom (Flor de Calabaza – $15) was quite good.
We enjoyed the crisp, tempura like batter, the horseradish aioli added a nice slightly pungent and rich touch to the dish. The slice of sweet potato wasn't my favorite but the Missus enjoyed it. There was mushroom in this dish which added an earthiness which "grounded" the dish.
The last item was going to be interesting. The Missus had issues with mole being too sweet during our visit to Oaxaca. In fact, until I found a place with mole sugueza She really didn;t care for mole at all. But, we just had to try the Memelita ($15).
Outside of Oaxaca, our favorite memelitas are probably from Pasillo de Humo in CDMX. But these are in a different league. The memelitas have such a wonderful maize flavor. The duck carnitas….well, what can you say, a good touch of rich flavor without being "foul" (fowl). The mole had just the right touch of savory and mild rich sweetness. The adobado was nice and savory, the pickled veggies gave your palate a break and the refried beans added an earthiness that grounded the dish.
We really enjoyed this meal. Of course, I like my Mezcal and Jacob picked a nice, "fumar" one for my digestif.
Good food, great service.
Look out Lucifer; I think we'll be back!
Quixote (In the Lafayette Hotel)
2223 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92104
Current Hours:
Mon – Fri Noon – Midnight
Sat – Sun 1pm – Midnight
On this evening, we headed on over to an area of the hotel down a hallway which said "The Gutter". This opened up into a faux courtyard.
And a doorway, with the sign "The Gutter".
This is the Lafayette's "cocktail bar/game room", which features a two lane bowling alley that you can reserve.
There's also pool, shuffleboard, and of course more cocktails!
Which you can have in your own vintage, wood framed booth, if you're not playing pop-a-shot….
As you can tell, we enjoyed our time at the Lafayette. There are certain things you need to take into consideration; like parking. If you can't find adequate street parking, overnight valet parking is $35. And yet, the folks working here were wonderful, great service. I'm sure we'll be back on another staycation in the future. We're hoping the neighborhood keeps moving with the times and that they'll be even more options for enjoying the area.
The Lafayette Hotel
2223 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92104
The Missus loved the rich "thickness" of the broth. Which, She brought up to Her preference in flavor with the provided lime, cilantro, onions, and the fairly picante salsas. The richness of the broth had accents of boviney-offal tones. There were various type of tripe provided; really buttery honeycomb tripe, firm book tripe, and blanket tripe.
It did seem like my sandwich was sticking "its tongue out at me"……perhaps mocking me? To use a single word to describe this would be "light". From the slightly crusty, yeasty-airy bolillo to the filling. Other than a good amount of heat from the jalapenos this was quite light. In my mind, it could have used a bit more salt (when was the last time I wrote that?), tomatoes, and onions. Still, it was a decent breakfast and the price was right.
This came on a by-the-book, yeasty telera roll. The chorizo was nice and smoky, with a hint of spice. The jamon was a rather thin slice and was made irrelevant by the chorizo. The gooey cheese was the glue (no pun intended) that added a slight milky flavor to things. There was a bit of jalapeno for some zip, but I could have used more beans on this. I think I'll have the papas con chorizo version of this next time.
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This was a nice portion of plump shrimp. Though that salsa verde was very mild and really lacked acidity. And because of that; the shrimp never "cooked/cured" in the sauce. It was basically raw shrimp the whole way thru. The tostadas provided were tasty and up to the task, but that sauce was really weak.