Wednesday, May 7, 2003 | 8:19 a.m.
One of the most popular new trends in the world of casual dining is what is often referred to as fresh-Mex, a concept that takes a ball originally carried by chains such as Taco Bell and goes it one further, with better products such as freshly made salsas and real grilled meats. This is, for many, a healthier and tastier option than that burger and fries affords. The number of these places is growing fast, and the choices are now better than ever.
Zaba's Mexican Grill
3318 E. Flamingo Road
This one-of-a-kind restaurant is soon to proliferate. Founding partners Doug Bolle and Robert Teikhorn, both of whom stand well over 6 feet 5 inches tall, have plans to open two more stores in the Las Vegas Valley this year, with more to come.
They like to refer to their food as "gourmet Mexican, fast, fresh and friendly," and indeed, it is all of those things. Zaba's uses no lard, MSG, preservatives or, for that matter, no freezers or microwaves. All the food is prepared on the premises daily, including salsas, and the owners are proud of the fact that they use products such as sirloin steak and farm chicken.
This is a pleasant room with a stone floor, wooden booths and mustard-colored walls. The burritos, tacos and rice bowls are assembled in an open kitchen by a friendly staff at high-octane speeds, and the food is delicious, with nothing on the menu priced higher than $6.25.
Fish tacos use cod, and the burritos start with 13-inch tortillas. Try the papas burrito, a monster packed with potatoes, peppers, red onions, black beans and cheese. The shredded beef tacos are excellent, and so are the sauces, from the mild pico de gallo to an incendiary roasted tomato and red chile salsa.
Chipotle
10251 S. Eastern Ave.
This, our newest fresh-Mex restaurant, opened officially on Friday, and is part of a chain started by Steve Ells, a southwestern chef trained by Jeremiah Tower at the well-known Stars in San Francisco. The meats are especially good, beautifully grilled or marinated.
Free-range Niman Ranch pork is used for carnitas, baked and then shredded for amazing flavor. There's also a wonderful diced, grilled steak, used in burritos or tacos. The menu is really quite small, but that allows for better quality control.
This is again an inexpensive place to eat. The top price here, for carnitas, is $5.50. The meats, carnitas, barbacoa (shredded, spiced beef), steak or chicken, are served essentially four ways. They are either burritos, tacos, what the chain calls its burrito bowl -- a bowl layered with meat, rice and beans -- or the fajita burrito, with sauteed peppers and onions standing in for the beans normally packed into an ordinary burrito.
Further distinguishing Chipotle is a quartet of salsas, and despite the fact that these salsas are made in off-site locations, all four are worth a shout. Fresh tomato is mild, roasted chili-corn and tomatillo-green chili are medium, and tomatillo red chili is considered hot, although not terribly so. All in all, Chipotle is a welcome addition to the valley dining scene.
Baja Fresh
11 Las Vegas Valley locations
This has to be considered the giant of the industry, at least around here. It began life as a private company, but three months ago, Wendy's purchased the entire chain. There are franchises from coast to coast.
It's easy to see why. This is a versatile, top-notch product. All food is prepared fresh daily at each location, there are no microwaves, and meats are trimmed by hand. Chips are made fresh in 100 percent canola oil. Most of the dishes have a clean, fresh taste, and nothing is oppressively spicy.
These are pleasant-enough places, with trademark white-and-black-checkered floors and good salsa bars. Be warned. The hot salsa here is the real article.
The one complaint about Baja Fresh is that most of its stores are less comfy than the other chains. Seating is at high stools, and for most people, their legs dangle down to the floor.
The menu here isn't restricted to the taco and burrito format. Enchiladas are done well, especially enchilada verde, topped with the chain's piquant salsa verde, and the ones done in traditional red salsas are fine, too. The most expensive item on the menu is fajitas, a third of a pound of charbroiled chicken or steak, served with a pile of grilled peppers, onions, rice, beans and guacamole. It's a real deal, and so are the other items, all generously portioned.
Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill
Four Las Vegas Valley locations
Rubio's was started by a San Diego entrepreneur named Ralph Rubio, who fell in love with the fish tacos he ate in San Felipe, Mexico. It has, in 20 short years, grown into a huge chain in six states, but as of recently, it is no longer known by its old name of Rubio's Fish Tacos.
Food is prepared with no lard or MSG, and mostly it is terrific. They've just added a smoky, delicious chipotle salsa, which has a smoky flavor, to their nice salsa bar. Maybe Chipotle should consider the same.
The taco that made this chain famous is a humble $1.99 fish taco, chunks of beer-battered Alaskan pollock, shredded cabbage and a special white sauce. For $1 more, the fish taco can be made using the more flavorful fish mahi-mahi.
At the opposite end of the price spectrum here is a $6.99 steak-and-lobster plate, a lobster meat taco, carne asada (flame-broiled beef), plus rice, beans and all the trimmings.
But other things are delicious as well. Health-Mex tacos, burritos and veggie burritos are lower in calories, made with almost no oil, and don't lose much in the flavor department.
And for dessert, there are squiggly hot churros, long fried snakes of batter dipped in cinnamon and sugar, and zango, a creamy cheesecake wrapped in a flour tortilla, dipped in more cinnamon and sugar, and drizzed with the hot caramel sauce called dulce de leche in Spanish.
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