Welcome to the Neighborhood Calo Kitchen and Tequila

Calo Kitchen and Tequila

28141 Crown Valley Parkway Suite A

Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

The empty restaurant that used to be home to a TGI Friday's on the corner of Crown Valley and Greenfield seemed like it had been empty for decades instead of the five years it had really been vacant. There were plenty of rumors about what was going to happen with that space. I had heard a Raising Cane's was going to be a possibility. Another tip had led me to believe that a BJ's Brewhouse was going to be setting up shop there. I had even heard it was going to be converted into a bank. None of these tips proved to be true though. 

Early last year a chain-linked fence went up around the property. The building was stripped down to its frame. Some major work began. About three months later a few signs went up around the chain-linked fence ending all the speculation once and for all. Our new neighborhood restaurant was going to be Calo Kitchen and Tequila. 

A quick Google search answered a lot of my questions about this new arrival. This would be their second location, with the other spot being in El Segundo. That restaurant gets a very respectable 4.5 stars on Yelp with over 600 reviews for those that want to know. I also learned that this is the sister restaurant of Carmelita's Kitchen, which is probably familiar to those of you that have been to their locations in Rancho Santa Margarita, Laguna Beach, or maybe you were visiting Northern California and went to one of their two spots up there. 

Calo is a family-run restaurant. This spot appears to be run by their third generation in the restaurant business. From looking at the menu, I'd describe this as upscale Mexican food. Combo plates range between $16 to $21, while their Mexican favorites section of the menu is in the $14 to $25 price range. Specialties are listed last on the menu, and they go anywhere from $19 to $35 for a prime skirt steak served over chicken enchiladas. Sounds pretty good to me. 

Predictably, this place is unrecognizable from the old Friday's days with the total tear down of this former building. Calo shares a common wall with morning favorite Snooze AM Eatery, which might cause some major traffic and parking issues when Calo starts serving lunch in the early part of July. With the large doors opening up to the rather large patio and the abundance of white used on the painted and tiled walls, the inside of the restaurant feels bright and airy. We were seated in a comfortable booth on the patio for this special friends and family opening event. We enlisted our good friend Oz to join us to experience our first taste of Calo. Let's see if Calo will be a welcome addition to our neighborhood. 

Calo ups the usual humdrum Chips and Salsa that you get at most Mexican restaurants. The chips were nicely fresh, but the star of this show was the bean dip that came with them. I could not get enough, and they generously refilled our bowl numerous times during our visit. The deep earthy flavor mixed with some spices made up for the much more mundane salsa, which needed a little more chunk to it for my tastes. 

Katie has grown an affinity for Queso Fundido ($11) and is on a search for the one that will supplant her favorite one, which is presently from El Maguey, which is down in San Juan Capistrano, With its chipotle cheese, crumbled sausage, mushrooms, sliced onions, and poblanos, this fundido was fine, but did not match the cheesier version from El Maguey. The cheese was off a bit, and the sausage failed to pack much of a punch of flavor. This did come with some very well-made corn and flour tortillas, which helped things out a bit. 

When I'm eating at a Mexican restaurant for the first time, I use the Carnitas ($25) as a barometer to see if a restaurant is worth revisiting. After my first couple of bites of this pork, I can definitely see myself making return visits. These carnitas had exactly what I look for when having this dish. Crispy tips, a little fat running through it for flavor, and tenderness throughout made this plate a winner. The refried beans and rice went well with the pork in alternating forkfuls. A very solid meal, and due to a snafu in the kitchen they had brought out two extra plates that they allowed us to keep, which we enjoyed for lunch the next day. 

Katie is sometimes a wildcard as to what she orders in Mexican restaurants, and at Calo, she veered from her usual fajitas to order the Pollo Serrano ($23). The menu claims that this is a staff favorite, and after a couple bites, it's now one of Katie's favorites as well. The two good-sized organic chicken breasts were blanketed with a green-hued serrano cream sauce and served alongside a scoop of rice and a poblano pepper topped with cheese and avocado slices. The sauce was not only eye-catching but burst with flavor and was a good conduit with the wonderfully moist chicken. I steer away from chicken in restaurants because a lot of the time it's dry, but the bite I had of this is making me rethink this. 

Our good friend Oz was going to go with the carnitas, but I veered him gently to this Seafood Trio ($33) because I had ordered the carnitas already and had wanted a little diversity to this post. Being the awesome guy that he is, he agreed. This trio of seafood items included a shrimp and lobster chile relleno, shrimp taco with bacon, and rounding things out, a lobster enchilada. Oz was pretty impressed with the seafood at Calo, calling it fresh and everything here was well made. Big praise from Oz, whose mom ran a Mexican restaurant in this area for many years. He's very picky when it comes to Mexican food, so to get his seal of approval really means something.  

Even though we were pretty full from our entrees, appetizer, and way more helpings of the bean dip and chips than I care to admit to you, we needed to try dessert at Calo. Our server raved about the Flan ($8) and the Tres Leches Cake ($8), so that's the way we went. I'm not the world's biggest fan of flan, as I think it's a little on the boring side, and hard for restaurants to make it their own. This one was a little creamier than most, and the plentiful amount of caramel made this sweeter than others I have encountered. The tres leches cake was predictably moist, but Katie liked that it was more sturdy than she was expecting. The top layer of icing had a muted sweetness that went well with the yellow cake underneath. I'm looking forward to trying their churros on my next visit. 

Calo Kitchen and Tequila is definitely a welcome addition to the neighborhood, and with the groups of people I see out in front every time I drive by, I think I'm not alone in that sentiment. With the prices per plate, I admit that Calo Kitchen is not going to be an everyday option for a lot of you, but it's definitely one of the better upscale Mexican restaurants in south OC. The food was executed well, and even though this was a trial run for the official first day of opening, the service we experienced on this evening was exemplary. We look forward to many return visits. 

Thank you to everyone we encountered at Calo Kitchen and Tequila this evening for their friends and family event. It was an honor being among one of the first to see what you guys were all about and trying your food. From the management team to bussers, everyone seemed really proud of what they were a part of at Calo. Thanks again for a wonderful evening and we will see you again soon. 

For more information about Cal Kitchen and Tequila, head to their website here: https://www.calokitchen.com/