Lunch Review: Red Mesa

(Credit: Jacqui Anderson)

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Farther from your standard South-of-the-Border grub than Guadalajara, Red Mesa has been a casual-upscale favorite in Northeast St. Pete for 12 years.

The modest, medium-size eatery reveals its booming success street-side with a perennially overflowing parking lot. It earns faithful repeat business for spicy and sumptuous sauces, meat and seafood variety and creative recipes. Owners Peter and Shawn Veytia have established a culinary hub of regional Mexican and Southwest cuisine -- a rarity east of the Continental Divide.

What they get right: the food. Several dining experiences at Red Mesa saw no returned entrees. So often appetizers are the most intricate items on a restaurant’s menu, but Red Mesa’s flair and creativity -- the great work of Executive Chef Chris Fernandez, who grew up around the peppers and cornmeal of Oaxaca kitchens -- can be found across all the categories.

Start out with a Shrimp Fundido, prepared in a similar manner to spinach-artichoke dips, top-baked golden brown in a ceramic bowl, and includes a zesty, filling combo of Gulf shrimp, sun-dried tomatoes, feta and Monterey Jack cheese, with crushed garlic and oregano, served with flour tortillas.

It’s tough to pick an entrée. Try a different one each time. Some more popular items are the Ceviche Mixto (a mix of grilled seafood) and the Chicken Fernandez (chicken marinated in oil and garlic with a chipotle cream sauce). Wild mushroom quesadilla is highly recommended for non-vegan vegetarians.

What they could stand to work on: the service. All right, we get it. Red Mesa is awesome and will have loyalty as long as it stays open and throws some mole sauce on stuff and plops it on a table. So, does that mean servers can be snooty and give preferential attention to big-spender business types while regular folks cower in hunger? Why, no. Complacency is a death-knell, especially in tough economic times.

What really needs to go: the incomplete party rule. The dictate stating incomplete parties won’t be seated until all members arrive is utterly aggravating if you have a late-comer. A waiting area that’s small and cramped just adds to the frustration, along with impatient, disorganized hosts and hostesses. Many customers have turned away in disgust. For the love of poblanos, Red Mesa, build a bigger restaurant with a bigger parking lot. If that’s not possible, do something! Put that business ingenuity to work and solve your capacity and parking problems to make customers comfortable.

A good time to go: Between 4 and 5:45 p.m. That’s when you can order from the Sunset Menu, a more elegant name for an early bird menu.  For $14, you get chips and salsa, choice of sangria, one entrée and a “special” dessert. Main courses include Pork Coloradito (chunks of tender pork in mole rojo with Mexican chocolate) and Shrimp al Mojo (Gulf shrimp sautéed with garlic, tomato, parsley and chile arbol).

Drink up, amigos: The zesty Sangrias at Red Mesa get a big Ole.

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