Sunday Funday: Mexican Brunch with Craft Cocktails

By Bryan Tsunoda on November 12th, 2015

I look forward to the weekends because it’s my opportunity to experience something new. Recently I took my wife out to Cocina Condesa to try out their new Weekend Brunch. While traveling from the South Bay to Studio City may not seem realistic during a weekday, we did not experience any traffic on a recent Sunday morning.

Cocina Condesa is located in a vibrant yellow building on Ventura Blvd. Even the inside of the restaurant is beautifully decorated in the style of a Mexico City cantina. The roll-up floor to ceiling doors give the restaurant a nice open-air feel.

At most restaurants, mimosas are poured at the bar and provided to you by the server. What surprised me here was the fact that the orange juice and champagne are provided separately. This allows you to to control the mixture to your liking. At $15, the endless mimosa is a great deal. Other flavors include guava, peach and mango.

Executive Chef Eddie Garcia has designed a menu with bold flavors using fresh local ingredients. He has served as Executive Chef of Sweeney’s Ale House and The Woodman, where he was responsible for putting together a unique bar food menu, leaving his own unique mark on street food and it’s accompanying style.

Mexican Torta with fresh spinach, tomato, egg whites and serrano ham

Cocina Condesa offers a modern and healthy take on the Mexican Torta. Fresh spinach, egg whites, sliced tomato and serrano ham was surrounded by toasted ciabatta bread. What really made a difference was the fresh quality bread. Despite being a Sunday, the bread was extremely fresh.

Machaca topped with salsa roja with Poblano potatoes

Instead of using beef chuck, Cocina Condesa makes its machaca using beef brisket that is slowly braised. This results in a more tender version and by using brisket, reduces the fat. The meat is seasoned nicely and topped with a salsa roja which elevates the typical machaca meal. Hash browns with slivered poblano chiles, kicks up the flavor on ordinary hash browns.

Chile Relleno with Poblano Hash Browns

Chile rellenos offerings vary widely and I dislike the type that have too much batter and resemble large jalapeno poppers. Their chile relleno is lightly battered and fried and you can actually taste the chile. Fortunately, it wasn’t spicy hot. It was combined with their Poblano Hash Browns.

Cocina Condesa is billed as a “mezcaleria” and so my wife and I were looking forward to their craft cocktails. We sampled a number of them (I was the designated driver that day).

La Paloma with tequila blanco, damiana, agave, fresh lime juice

The La Paloma is made with Tequila blanco, damiana, agave, fresh lime juice and served with a rim that is salted on the inside of the glass. Mixologist David Rubin said, “I only like to use Tequila that is 100% agave because this avoids getting a hangover.”

La Mariposa, one of my favorite drinks

La Mariposa is made with Butterfly dry gin, elderflower, cucumber and topped with squirt. This drink was a bit fruity with a slight taste of lychee fruit. The Butterfly gin is extremely smooth which allows the other flavors to come forward.

The Honey Bee, their version of the Gold Rush

The Honey Bee is Rubin’s version of the Gold Rush. It is also their cure for the hangover. It is double strained with whiskey, orange juice, ginger and honey. This was my wife’s favorite drink.

Bloody Mary

On their Bloody Mary, Rubin stated, “This is a Mexican restaurant, it has to be a bit spicy”. Indeed it was.

The Bronco, their take on the Mule

The Bronco is Rubin’s take on the Moscow Mule. Watermelon and fresh mint tops the drink. The Bronco and La Paloma ended up to be my favorite drinks.

You have to admire someone who enjoys their job and Mixologist David Rubin is one of those people.

Mini churros with a warm caramel sauce

And we had some mini churros with a warm caramel sauce for dessert. Wow!

You may find this hard to believe, but there were a number of items that we didn’t try that intrigued me: Mexican French Toast made with egg battered bolillo bread, blueberry mango chutney and piloncillo syrup, Chicken, Chorizo, Egg and Cheese Empanada, and Mayan Chocolate Pancakes.

Cocina Condesa