The best Mexican restaurant in America is a fancy taqueria that costs $157 a head
You'll need a reservation to get in — but good luck with that. After receiving two stars from the Michelin Guide this week, Californios is booked through most of November already.
Cantu ran a successful pop-up restaurant in San Francisco before the chef and his wife, Carolyn, opened the brick-and-mortar spot in 2015. The restaurant remains family-run.
The name Californios borrows a term for Californians of Mexican descent. "They were people who left Mexico to find something, and do something special," Cantu told the Chronicle. "I thought that was a pretty accurate description of what we're trying to do."
Sour cherry jam, buttercream frosting, and sprinkles complete this pink cake dessert.
Fish taco, anyone?
Enfrijoladas are corn tortillas prepared in a black bean sauce.
Here's how Californios does queso fresco, with fresh cheese and Frog Hollow apricots.
The menu is as much Mexican as it is Californian, according to the Michelin Guide.
"While the feast set forth by Chef Cantu is inspired by Mexican flavors, it is modern Californian at its foundation," reads a review from Michelin Guide "inspectors" who dined there.
Chef Val Cantu takes familiar Mexican flavors but veers away from traditional combinations. "I want to create something totally new," Cantu told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2015.
The restaurant is small and intimate, with only 22 seats. Warm leather banquettes, white tablecloths, grayed-out windows, and intensely colored art create a private, upscale feel.
Dinner costs $157 a head, plus an additional cost for the beverage pairing.
Californios offers a nightly tasting menu of about 16 courses that changes with the seasons.
San Francisco is full of casual taquerias where you can eat a gut-busting Mission-style burrito. But Californios puts a fine-dining spin on the city's most beloved cuisine.
