Baja Streetfood

Rio Lerma in Cuauhtémoc has no shortage of restaurants. Some are chain restaurants like Fiebra de Malta and others are your typical, “I’ve got a recipe, I think I’ll open a restaurant” sort of establishment. Some good. Some bad.

Baja lies somewhere in between these two genres. The restaurant paid enough attention to the décor to give it a modern and “trendy” feel yet the space retains enough personality to keep it from feeling a bit soulless like nearby Hooters or Papa Bill’s.

The first and second floors are sectioned off into various rooms with anywhere from two to four tables in each room. One room has a large table seating 10 to 12 diners.

The entire third floor is the open-air rooftop terrace. An awning can be pulled to shield the terrace from sun or rain.

There’s a bar on the ground flood and one on the rooftop.

Young, enthusiastic waiters and waitresses do a better than adequate job. The menu is interesting. Interesting in a very good way.

It has soups, salads, burgers, tacos, some traditional Mexican molcajetes and some not-so-traditional dishes such as a Mexican-style surf and turf, the Arrachera Tierra y Mar, a hangar steak bathed in a creamy-shrimp sauce (Camarones Gobernador).

I sampled some of the finger-foods, ordering the Pulpo-Chorizo and the Chili-Relleno tacos. Imaginative and delicious.

That was followed by the Ensalada Cesar con Camarones al Ajillo (Garlic Shrimp Caesar Salad). That’s pretty straightforward. It would not be uncommon for the shrimp to be overcooked in a salad of this type, but in this one they were perfectly cooked. And it had a good version of the classic Caesar dressing, too. My only complaint is that some of the darker exterior leaves of the Romaine lettuce were utilized in the salad. The perfectly constructed Caesar uses the heart of the lettuce containing the crisp, light green leaves to create the perfect crunch. The texture is just as important as the taste.

Summing it up, Baja is one of the best casual dining options in this part of Cuauhtémoc. It has a modern, eclectic décor, good music, drinks and an interesting, well-executed menu.

This place has the look and feel of a gastropub that would be open late, serving food and drinks to the wee hours. But alas, closing time is at 10 pm Monday through Wednesday, 11:30 pm on Thursday through Saturday, and 7:30 pm on Sundays.