"Nic Villareal doesn’t skimp on quality or quantity. Doing so would cramp his style, one that is rooted in the proud heritage of his ancestors, in the generosity of his mother and of his mother’s mother. “You got to give to get. You gotta treat the people with respect. It all comes back to you,” he says."
Nic Villareal doesn’t skimp on quality or quantity. Doing so would cramp his style, one that is rooted in the proud heritage of his ancestors, in the generosity of his mother and of his mother’s mother. “You got to give to get. You gotta treat the people with respect. It all comes back to you,” he says.
After all, giving back is Villareal’s guiding philosophy, and passing on decades-old family traditions so the youth remember their heritage is so rewarding. Like his contemporary gourmet Mexican restaurateurs Rick Bayless and Richard Sandoval, Villareal ushers in memories of Oaxacan kitchens and authentic Mexican cuisine with the ode to his motherland, Taléo Mexican Grill.
Villareal is quick to acknowledge that “great cultures have great foods,” and all great cultures depend on those who came and went, those who left their marks like the French and Italian colonists whose brief forays into the Mexican jungle left their imprint on classical Mexican cuisine. And nowhere in the continental United States could diverse cultures otherwise intermingle and fuse so well than in Southern California, where access to fresh, regional ingredients make Chef Acevedo’s Old Mexican canvas possible. Call it California-inspired Mexican food rather than Cal-Coastal fusion.
Aglow in modern, Southwestern pea greens, beiges and reds, the restaurant conveys a stately pride with wide open spaces and plush leather chairs. Taléo certainly isn’t a garden-variety Tex-Mex mediocrity (think El Torito Grill), it instead epitomizes the fine dining traditions of posh neighborhoods in Mexico City and resort towns of the Baja Peninsula. Elderly men in golf polos and sweater vests mingle with formal businessmen and young hipsters in T-shirts and jeans at the all-wood bar. Everybody nurses cocktails and good laughs with the bartender as she pours spirit after spirit. Diners hunch over in quiet discourse at individual tables on the opposite side, enjoying fresh-made tapas over chilly glasses of wine.
Must-haves on Villareal’s menu include the Tacos al Carbon and the famed pork carnitas. Succulent and flavorful, the tacos are inspired by the barbacoas of the Sonoran plain, while the carnitas are portraits of perfection, a must any time you come here. Baseball-sized behemoths of natural pork are slow roasted for hours in a herb and spice-infused liquid bath.
By the time the carnitas arrive tableside, the meat flakes off the bone, and each bite combines the taste of the sweet and crispy caramelized exterior with the savoriness and smokiness of the meat inside, while the tomatoes in the pico de gallo burst in their own juices.
The meal has not concluded until you partake of Taléo’s silky flan pudding topped with caramel sauce. Much like a crème brûlée in texture and feel, this version puts to shame the jiggly pudding domes diners are accustomed to finding at mom and pop joints. Taléo’s version is flamboyantly rich and creamy, and every bite of this custard feels like heaven. It’s icing on the cake after a nice dinner for two.
