La Espadaña — Restaurant in Baja California

Great Mexican restaurant in the heart of the city. I’ve been coming for years but the restaurant in my eyes has only gotten better. I ordered the Rib eye, it came with a soup, an appetizer (chicharrón de tripa) and ‘frijolones’. The server was courteous and helpful tough he would leave for several minutes at a time, I suppose he had a large table or something else going on. First came some chips and salsa, the salsas are very spicy, I like spicy salsas but I guess these definitely beat me. Then came the soup, they had ran out of the ordinary soup (not sure what it was) but I was happily surprised with a soup that included mushrooms and spinachs. It was great. Then came the chicharrón de tripa, sort of like the tripe from the menudo but turned into chicharrón, that was amazing. Never had tasted something like that before. I loved it. The rib eye came in a skillet, I had asked for medium because I was a little worried about the quality of the steak as in Mexico it’s not easy to find a good quality steak even at pricey places. I usually order medium rare. My steak came medium rare, no fuss. The meat was tender and juicy, good flavor, unfortunately it had too much nerve. I would suppose this steak was ‘select’ per USDA standards, or maybe below select. But it wasn’t a total bust, the steak had good flavor and with so much food eaten before it’s arrival, I was satisfied soon even after leaving 1/3 of the steak due to the many nerves within it. The frijolones were a good companion to the steak although they were not as surprising in flavor as the other dishes. All in all I totally recommend this place.

Ownership: If you see this review please consider changing meat suppliers, the quality of that steak was the difference between a good meal and a heavenly experience.

Apologies for the lack of pictures, I...

We didn't want to back out of our VDG plans for last Saturday when we learned about the 5 closure so we came up with a nutty little scheme to walk over super early by parking at the Palm trolley station and Lyfting on side streets to PedWest. Well, it worked, and we were the only people walking south at about 7am.

Yelped breakfast in TJ and La Espadaña was generally well reviewed, and more importantly, open at 7:30, so we took a cab there and had a tasty, filling breakfast. (And also made a super sweet doggo friend who walked with us for about half an hour after our meal while we were waiting for our driver.)

Huevos ahogados with nopales, fresh tortillas de maiz, some of the most delicious frijoles I've eaten, and a deliciously spiced and belly warming cafe de olla. I loved the swallows and clay pot detail on the wall, too. Clearly the locals love this place for a nice sit down breakfast, and our driver told us that they are known for their beans. Good to know our palates aren't far off!

Service is friendly, and the Spanish...

My partner and I decided to try La Espanada for dinner for my birthday. The outside ambiance is super rustic as if you are truly walking into a lovely old style Spanish Villa. The hostess and our waiter were super friendly and sat us quickly. We started dinner with the queso fundido with the mix of green peppers, chorizo and mushrooms. It was good, but the cheese was not melted enough making it hard to share. For dinner, I got the chicken fajita and my partner got the pechuga de pollo al chipotle con crema. I feel as if I definitely had a U.S. perspective of what a fajita should look like (brought out on a sizzling hot pan), but despite this it was pretty tasty. My partner said the Chipotle chicken was okay, but it had WAY too much of the sauce, also the vegetables on the side did not appear fresh. All and all I believe this restaurant has a lovely staff and atmosphere, but the food was just okay. I have read that the breakfast here is good so I will definitely be back...