Dining Out
The mariachi music is calling you for Sunday brunch at Baja Willie’s
Mexican Restaurant and Cantina. The small cafe on Warner Avenue has grown
from a front patio and bar to a restaurant with a side patio and three
other dining areas.
On Sundays it’s alive with the music of Mariachi Jalisco and owner
Willie Calabro greets diners as friends and in general orchestrates the
rhythm of a busy restaurant.
Like a big party held in an apartment, every space seems occupied.
Chef Soloman has cooks taking omelet orders to fill frying pans with your
selections of six choices -- ham, onion, peppers, mushrooms, cheese -- to
add to creamy eggs.
Then you take a plate for the small salad bar of fresh greens and
fruit beside a row of steam tables with Mexican specialties --
enchiladas, refried beans, Spanish rice, chile rellenos, corn on the cob
-- ending with big trays of crisp bacon pieces and plump little sausages.
A small table nearby is filled with jewel-like jello for the kids,
chocolate pudding, squares of flan and thick rice pudding powdered with
cinnamon. This crowded area opens to an awning-covered patio with
umbrella tables warm on this sunny day.
A waiter appears with champagne glasses to take the drink orders.
Quick and agile, he returns as you settle at a table. Baja Willie’s is
all movement and friendliness with diners talking from table to table,
children escaping to peer at desserts or line up for balloons. It’s as
busy as a family kitchen.
Wandering through Baja Willie’s during Sunday brunch is the mariachi
brass quintet with a trumpet that can drown out conversation -- best to
enjoy it at a distance by selecting a table on the front patio.
It truly deserves the name “brunch” a combination of breakfast and
lunch -- a lively family oriented choice that has just celebrated 15
years at this location.
* MARY FURR is the Independent restaurant critic. If you have comments
or suggestions, call (562) 493-5062 or e-mail o7 hbindy@latimes.com.f7
FYI
Baja Willie’s Mexican Restaurant and Cantina
WHERE: 7891 Warner Ave. near Beach Boulevard
HOURS: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday; until 11 p.m.
Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday brunch
PHONE: (714) 842-8955
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