Tempo Urban Kitchen
731 South Weir Canyon Road #147
Anaheim, CA 92808
Here's another restaurant that I've wanted to try for more time than I can remember. It's also an overdue meet-up with our good friends Erven and Rocio, who we can never see enough of. They have triplets and another kid, so it's hard to get together between soccer games, school functions, and family vacations. Persistence paid off, though, as we planned to meet near their house and try Tempo Urban Kitchen.
Since I first heard of Tempo, they have gone through an evolution and quite a few high-profile chefs. From the outside, it seems like they were trying to find their identity. When they first opened in late 2014 in Brea, they were described as a molecular-styled menu, frequently changing. Then they switched things up and focused more on a traditional menu with twists and turns on almost every item. The food can be described as Mexican cuisine, which is influenced by other cuisines worldwide. Since we ate here a little over a month ago, they now have another new menu, which features ten new items.
The man behind Tempo is Jorge Cueva, the president of the Lascari Restaurant Group. He worked at Daphne's Greek Cafe and Sharkey's Woodfired Grill. Tempo has been described as his passion project. Besides the original Brea location and this one perched up in Anaheim Hills, there's also been a lot of talk about expanding this concept to other areas. Las Vegas, Downey, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Newport Beach, Tuscon, Buena Park, and even across the border in Mexico have been mentioned. It'll be interesting to see how these lofty expansion plans work out.
We arrived at the Anaheim Hills spot, located in Ralph's shopping plaza and is also home to the wildly popular Mediterranean restaurant Rosine's, just before 5 pm on a Sunday afternoon. The restaurant was busier than I expected it to be at this relatively early dinner hour, and by the time we left the restaurant, it was full of patrons. Nevertheless, I liked the feel of the place, with its hanging light fixtures, the active bar along the space's back wall, and the decor hanging on the walls, including the plate installation along the far wall. I imagine this restaurant can seem a little cramped during peak times, and the tables did seem a little too close together, but that might be necessary because they are so busy.
Before we get to the food at Tempo, I have to highlight this Tableside Hickory Smoke Old Fashion ($16). I'm a sucker for any dramatic tableside presentation, and this one was pretty special. Our waitress came over to our table, smoked some hickory under the glass, then blow-torched an orange rind, and then finished this little presentation by concocting this delicious cocktail. I'm not much of a bourbon drinker, but this was one of the best old fashions I have ever had. Not that I've had too many. Erven loved this drink so much that he had it again, but they made it behind the bar, which saved $4. I kind of missed the dramatics, though.
Tempo has an awe-inspiring happy hour lineup, and the good news is that it's offered seven days a week, most days from 4 to 6 pm, and then it starts up again at 9 pm until close. Along with drink specials, there is a boatload of $5, $7, and $9 priced bar bites, and we took advantage of a few of them before moving on to the entrees. The Tinga Taquitos ($7) was a good choice. The chicken inside of these taquitos was solid, and they also came with lime crema and a serrano sauce, which added a touch of heat. I've said it a million times, if you see pork belly on a menu, you need to order it. I took my own advice by ordering the Pork Belly Bites ($9). These cubed pieces of pork were a little overcooked, but some parts had the spongy quality I look for when consuming pork belly. They were accompanied by spicy honey and corn tortillas, which I did not use. The Fresh Oysters ($5) were an Erven pick, and I always think it's a roll of the dice to get oysters at a non-seafood-specific restaurant. These oysters were fresh, tasted great, and lacked the grittiness that can ruin an oyster experience for me.
I've been on a taco kick all summer, and it continued at Tempo with this House Taco Selection ($15). This is an excellent option for indecisive people or someone that wants to get the lay of the land at Tempo. This taco platter came with a beef cheek, carnitas, a Korean pork belly, and a short rib taco. I loved the variety of this. My favorite out of the bunch was the Short Rib Mole, which included pickled red onion, lime crema, and crispy carrot shards. The short rib was predictably tender, and the mole was excellent. I was also fond of the way the different textures combined with each other while consuming this taco. The beef cheek taco was prepared with pickled red onion and cilantro, allowing the beef cheek to be the show's star. My usual favorite carnitas was relegated to third place here, as the carnitas were kind of bland and not really enhanced by the roasted pepitas or the mole verde. The worst was the Korean pork belly, which had too much going on. The mango, red cabbage slaw, chile-soy, and lime crema ended up masking the pork on this, which is a shame because, unlike the pork belly bites appetizer, the pork belly on this was not overcooked.
Sorry for the poor picture quality of this Costa Azul ($14), but my camera was having issues. These bacon-wrapped shrimp were stuffed with cheese and were as good as they sounded. The shrimp were very good-sized; the bacon was crisp, but the cheese got lost in the shuffle. I did enjoy the sauce that came with this, which I'd describe as a chipotle mayo. These also came with spiced honey, but I stayed away from that.
I guess Katie wasn't feeling any of the entrees at Tempo, as she got these Nachos Gordos ($14) off the appetizer menu. Based on this name, I expected a lot bigger pile of chips on this, but it was the perfect size for Katie this evening. The chips were topped with an exciting blend of cheeses; mozzarella, cheddar, pecorino, jalapenos, pico de gallo, guacamole, pinto beans, and her choice of a protein, chicken tinga, rounded out this plate of nachos. She felt this was a lighter version of nachos than she was expecting. The chicken was good, but there could have been more of it on here, along with more cheese and everything else.
The best item for the night for me was this Seafood Rice ($16). Saffron rice was mixed with octopus, shrimp, calamari, and other seafood, and it was all tied together with a chipotle sauce. Very flavorful, and the seafood was very fresh and prepared well. This was a very comforting dish and one I would usually overlook, so I was glad that Erven wanted to try it. This will not be my last time having this at Tempo.
Rocio went a little rouge at Tempo when she ordered this Chili Relleno ($12). The usual chile relleno at Tempo comes with short-rib chorizo beans and is encased in a corn dog batter. Instead, Rocio went for a more traditional version, with just the cheese inside of it and a red sauce ringing the chili relleno. She seemed to like this a lot but was getting full before finishing it. I like that Tempo was very accommodating with modifications to their menu items, which is not too common in chef-driven restaurants like this.
Dessert was the last thing on our agenda this evening, not that I needed it. We all split the Tres Leches Cake ($8). This was a decent rendition of this classic cake. However, it was not as moist as a lot of them that we have had, and the frosting could have been a little sweeter. I'd probably try the churros the next time I'm here.
Glad we finally made it to Tempo. Where does Tempo rank in my most recent Mexican restaurant experiences? I like Tempo better than Puesto, but not as much as Urbana in Anaheim. It's definitely in the middle of these two other similar, upscale Mexican restaurants. It will not be our last trip to Tempo, as there's way more to explore on their menu than we could have managed on this trip. The shareable urban grills, tortas, and flatbreads have caught my eye for next time. Service was exceptional on this visit, as our server Lana did an impressive job taking care of us during our nearly two-hour stay. It'll be interesting to see how Tempo evolves because with their impending expansion and the feeling I get that their menu will constantly be tweaked here and there, with items being switched back and forth depending on the whim of the person in charge of this kitchen. As for now, this is a pretty solid spot, and it was an excellent restaurant for Erven and Rocio to catch their breath from chasing around their four kids.
Out of five gold stars (because Tempo is the name of the largest brewer in Israel, and one of their three brands of beer they manufacture is Goldstar), five being best to zero being worst, Tempo Urban Kitchen gets 3 gold stars.
For more information about Tempo Urban Kitchen, head to their website here: https://tempourbankitchen.com/
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