Restaurant Review:

As I was biting into a mahi-mahi taco, a less-than-original name came to me to categorize the type of cuisine Caliente Southwest Grill serves: “Nuevo Mexicano.”

While the name won’t catch on, the food certainly has.

Owner Rick Flanagan started the restaurant more than 10 years ago, and the facility has been managed by his daughter, Heather, for the last few years. The restaurant serves Mexican food in the style similar to Taco Mesa’s.

The standard ingredients are there: cilantro for the tacos, pico de gallo for the chicken asada tacos and queso fresco for many of the burritos.

But Flanagan dug a little deeper into the Mexican food cabinet, and infused some other items into the food.

Nowhere is that more evident than the salads. There are six of them, and each has a distinct flavor.

The most famous is probably the Blue Moon chicken salad. The salad has marinated chicken that is grilled and mixed with romaine lettuce, blue cheese, sliced apple, mushrooms, pepitas and mango relish.

A pepitas-citrus dressing, which is a pumpkin nutseed, mixed with orange juice and cilantro, is poured on top.

Another salad that I might even like more is the Caliente Tropical salad. It has romaine lettuce and is packed with chopped apples, dried blueberries, pineapple-jicama relish and queso fresco.

The vinaigrette doesn’t get in the way of the pineapple-jicama relish, which is the key to this dish. The relish is also available now with a carnitas, steak or chicken tortilla wrap.

I like the salmon taco; it was the first time I have ever seen a fish other than mahi-mahi or talapia in a taco. Another unusual menu entry is the broiled steak burrito, which marinated poblano chiles, rajas con queso, and tomatillo salsa.

On a recent visit I had the mahi-mahi taco and the chicken enchilada combo. The enchilada is extremely flavorful, with a nice mellow verde sauce that tasted a bit peppery to me. It was really good, and the queso fresco and sour cream only added to the dish.

With all the sauce, though, I thought they were hiding the quality of the chicken, so I took a cube out and ate it dry. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The chicken was incredibly moist and tender, and I could have eaten it by itself.

Tex-Mex beans and Spanish rice come with it. I liked the beans, they were a combination of black and pinto beans that came in a slightly runny but still good sauce. The corn niblets and peas were a nice touch in the Spanish rice.

One item that should be tried is the wheat chicken burrito. The large wheat tortilla holds grilled chicken, mushrooms, corn strips, a Southwest apple slaw that really flavors the burrito and queso fresco. A pepito citrus dressing is also added.

The prices impressed me. Most of the dishes are in the $5 to $7 range and provide more than enough food. It is that and the distinctive entrée items that make this restaurant as popular as ever.

Caliente Southwest Grill

Address: 271 17th St., Costa Mesa

Phone: (949) 515-0909

Website: www.calientesouthwest.com

Cuisine: Mexican

Specialty dish: Blue Moon Salad

Alcohol served: beer and wine

Entrée price range: $1.99 to $8.95

Family friendly: yes, separate menu

Credit cards accepted: American Express, MasterCard and Visa

Rating: *** 1/2

JOHN REGER reviews local restaurants and may be contacted at Nolimepublishing@aol.com or P.O. Box 2984, Seal Beach, CA 90740.