A guided tour of regional masterpieces

Casa Frida’s neighborhood -- the part of Maywood where the Los Angeles River passes through the rail yards -- used to be a dreary stretch of auto parts shops and funky taquerias. It was the last place you’d look for a restaurant offering “a new direction in fine Mexican dining,” as Casa Frida’s menu describes it.

But in the last year or so a new Starbucks and several other smart-looking eateries have pumped new life into the area, paving the way, it would seem, for Casa Frida’s contemporary cooking. The restaurant joins the growing wave of places that describe their cooking as alta cocina (think Casa Antigua, Zocalo, the Spanish Kitchen, Babita or the more ambitious Frida in Beverly Hills, also named for Mexican artist and cult heroine Frida Kahlo).

From the street, Casa Frida looks promising, and when you walk into the burnished coral building, you find yourself in a dining room pulsing with color. A pale lavender ceiling arching over light ochre walls is the backdrop for painted trompe-l’oeil windows and a fresco of a Mexican village. Images of Kahlo are everywhere, from beaded wall hangings to postcards.

I always try to snag one of the booths. Their high backs create a sort of intimate tatami room effect that’s very cozy.

Now, that’s service

The waiters can help you with the English menu, which doesn’t really give the food its due. My favorite waiter, Palermo Nochebuena, can recite the complete ingredient list of any dish and says he’s responsible for a few of them himself. This is slightly adventurous, very personal Mexican cooking, which Nochebuena describes as what an excellent home cook (possibly one with a little French training) would make for parties. It’s neither strictly classical nor fusion-ized beyond recognition as Mexican.

One night his top recommendation was manjar de Diego, chicken breast stuffed with chopped shrimp and mushrooms, cloaked in a zucchini flower and poblano chile puree. The cook had done each element of the dish perfectly, from the moist breast meat and stylized arrangement of steamed vegetables to the balance of the lightly peppery sauce.

Another good recommendation was poached salmon en salsa Frida. Its sauce is basically cream infused with great quantities of sliced mushrooms. Very nice, if lacking in the earthiness of Mexico’s more Indian-influenced dishes.

Soup is served before every entree, and the kitchen varies it daily. The appetizer (antojito) list includes carefully made empanadas filled with finely minced chicken or pork.

One evening Nochebuena winced when I ordered the milanesa con papas gratinadas en salsa chipotle. I found out why. The expanse of thin steak was stringy and over-breaded; unlike anything else here, the potatoes tasted like something that had been frozen. Yet the presentation had flair, the plate sporting tangerine-size scoops of elegantly-made guacamole and pico de gallo and a very hot, pleasantly earthy chipotle sauce (wisely served on the side).

The better choice might have been grilled salmon in salsa de espinacas, which was not truly a sauce but simply spinach stir-fried with onions and jalapeno. The combination complemented the salmon’s flavor wonderfully.

Plato Diego is, of course, a tribute to Kahlo’s husband, the famed muralist Diego Rivera. It’s generous portions of three meats: chicken in a dark, bittersweet mole, spice-rubbed carne asada and pork in a rustic tomatillo sauce. Rivera would have had to be a serious eater, since all this comes, like every entree, with herbed rice, freshly made tortillas and beans (here cooked to retain a bit of texture and lightly sprinkled with queso anejo).

A dab hand at dessert

When dessert time comes around, Nochebuena positively glows as he gleefully describes his favorite inventions. One night he suggested the flan. Ordinarily I’d pass, but I didn’t, and again I was pleased with his advice. The gently cooked custard had been flavored with coconut milk and there was an aromatic layer of freshly grated coconut at the bottom, slightly caramelized from baking.

I’ve also had Nochebuena’s favorite guava cheesecake, an exquisite balance of fruit, cheese and crumb crust. Decorated with a fancy hard caramel garnish, it looked -- and, more important, tasted -- as though a well-trained pastry chef had assembled it.

Casa Frida’s menu tells you that the restaurant features “a contemporary adaptation of traditional Mexican cuisines with lightened sauces and fresh ingredients.” A waiter will happily steer you toward the most successful of these.

*

Casa Frida

Location: 5516 Atlantic Ave., Maywood, (323) 560-5523.

Price: Lunch: $6 to 10. Dinner: appetizers, $3.25 to $7.99; entrees, $6.95 to $14.99; desserts, $3.25 to $4.25.

Best dishes: empanadas, manjar de Diego (No. 18), plato Diego (No. 14), filete en salsa de espinacas (No. 4), flan, guava cheesecake.

Facts: Open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday (including today); 8 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday; 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Beer and wine. Parking lot. Visa and MasterCard.