A new Bay Area restaurant brings California flair to Spanish classics
On Monday, Cesar Hernandez and I updated our list of the best restaurants in Marin County, with new additions including a formidable Mexican brunch buffet and a Mill Valley bakery with an advanced degree in lamination. But there's only one new entry that is also a new restaurant, and that's Mijo in Corte Madera.
A Cal-Spanish restaurant from the team behind Guesthouse in Kentfield and Petaluma's recently closed Easy Rider, Mjio is located in the Marketplace shopping center, right next to Book Passage. As you walk across the parking lot to Mijo's front door, you'll be hard pressed to forget that you're in a strip mall. On my visit, as I passed an outpost of the spectacularly named bakery chain Nothing Bundt Cakes, I could hear a mic'd fitness instructor pushing class packages through the open door of a pilates studio.
But once you're inside Mijo, you're transported to — okay, not literal Spain, but a quite nice restaurant, one where attention has clearly been paid to the decor. There's a colorful mural on the back wall, cozy upholstered booths for two and larger ones for four, a long copper bar, lots of tile.
I went with my editor-in-chief and son of Spain Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, who has been known to make a large-format paella for newsroom gatherings. He immediately pointed out details on the menu that, he feared, would cause the ghosts of his forebears to come ahaunting: potatoes in the croquetas, kiwi in the gazpacho, black garlic jus with the stuffed piquillo peppers. I tapped a fingernail on the 'Cali' part of the 'Cali - España' menu header.
Even Emilio's ancestors would have to admit that the market salad ($15), Spanish or not, was exceptional. Tender lettuces, crunchy segments of asparagus and snap peas, blood orange supremes and chopped marcona almonds were bathed in a wonderfully bright dressing made with aged sherry vinegar. Jamón croquetas ($16 for five), thickened with potato instead of the traditional béchamel, were nonetheless satisfyingly lucious, as were the patatas bravas ($13), burnished little nuggets of joy.
The one disappointment was the Mijo paella ($32 for a small portion, $52 for large). While attractively presented with charred lemons and shellfish standing at attention around the perimeter, it managed to be simultaneously over and undercooked. Those mussels and clams were stringy and desiccated, as were thin strips of chicken, while there was almost none of the crispy socarrat that should form on the bottom of the pan and be viciously fought over.
The restaurant is only a few months old, so I think it's entirely possible they'll work out those paella kinks. But the tapas are ready for primetime, the interiors are charming and the service is warm. (Thanks, Daniela, for answering Emilio's many, many questions). Corte Madera residents should be pleased to have a new option in town.
Mijo. 55 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera. mijomarin.com
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