Baja Sonora

Address: 2940 Clark Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90815. 877.553.4408.

Review: Recently, I found myself with three hours to kill in Long Beach on my way back from DC. Since the airport (a 60's antique) is under construction, there wasn't much to eat other than five-dollar bags of chex mix and thee-dollar bottles of Dr. Pepper. I wasn't havin' none o' dat, so I wandered away from the airport in search of foodstuffs.

After half-an-hour, I happened upon Baja Sonora in a small Mexican strip mall.

I ordered a combo plate, with a chile relleno and pork tamale, oh, and rice and beans.

But before this plate arrived, there was the salsa bar. All the usual suspects were present, like red and green salsas, roasted jalapenos, and home-prepared tortilla chips. The chips were light and airy and the salsa was fresh and tasty (although the hot wasn't hot). The fact it was all free made it that much better.

Now, back to the combo platter. The beans: good. The rice: standard. The tamale: dry masa and tasty, but somewhat dry pork. The chile relleno: good chile taste; overabundance of cheese. In fact, the entire plate was overcheesed. (Now, this is a difficult thing for me to admit, since cheese is second only to pork on the hierarchy of items that prove God exists and loves us.) I wish the other ingredients had a better chance to shine.

In the end, I would come back (if I'm ever again in Long Beach, which may not happen since I've been there once in thirty-four years) for the salsa bar, but not for the combo plate.

Rating: 5.5/10 (5/10 is average).