Zengo Brunch al Fresco

If you are familiar with newbie Zengo which opened last summer in the newly remodelled SM Place, you know that it offers a Latin-Asian fusion small plates menu that has already earned a reputation as some of the best and freshest fusion cuisine on the Westside. 

The small plates let you sample a variety of flavors, but the tab can add up rather quickly. If that angst puts a brake on your full enjoyment, you are in luck because a few months ago, the restaurant introduced an all you can eat weekend brunch menu for $35, and the news gets even better because the fixed price also includes all you can drink cocktail beverages. 

If your picture of an all you can eat meal involves stuff sitting around in steam dishes on a buffet table, you need to lose the idea right away. At this AYCE, you pick your selections right off the menu, staggering them as you wish, and they come to you fresh from the kitchen, hallmark Zengo freshness intact. On Sundays, there’s live entertainment as well. If you’ve never been to the restaurant, this would be a great way to get acquainted.

Though, if you don’t want to go all out on an AYCE binge, the regular lunch menu is also available for ordering a la carte. But before we dig in, let’s get the pesky business of parking out of the way. You can get a three hour validation from any restaurant in the mall, including Zengo, but to avail of this offer you must use the free valet service at Mall entrance on 2nd Street; the offer does not work if you have self-parked in the garage. Since a lazy brunch, sipping sangria on the patio, watching the ocean or the promenade can be a pretty easy way to lose track of time, you also need to know in advance that there is a two hour table limit. So put the extra third hour to good use – browse the mall, catch up on shopping, or perhaps a little walk on the esplanade to work off some of that all-you-can-eat that you ended up eating.　

Today, I bring my friend Susan who had never been to Zengo before. Our friendly waiter from New Orleans by way of New York who had just gotten on board a month ago, seats us on the open porch. The last time I had visited was for dinner on a cold winter evening when all the heaters were in full force; on this gorgeous summer noon, Mother Nature needed no help whatsoever. 

We say hello to the ladies at the adjacent table who had stopped to fuel up before tackling the Getty. One, a local, had chosen Zengo because her visitor, an art curator from Washinton DC had wanted to do `something Santa Monica’. Judging from the half eaten plates on their table, they had a headstart on us, so we promptly recruited them for guidance. As fair trade, we tip them off on the Tim Burton and Gifts from the Sultan exhibits at LACMA, with a particular sell on one of the carpets in the latter exhibit. One of the top two carpets in the world, it is normally kept under wraps in controlled climate. Currently on display in its full royal splendor. The ladies perk up, and with just a minute’s sparring on logistics, they have it pencilled into next week’s itenarary. 

The brunch cocktail choices include Sake sangria , mango mimosa, lychee bellini, and with a nod to a current food fad, bacon bloody mary, and bacon-infused vodka. Latin-Asian spirits are also available a la carte. We decide to wait and first build a cushion of food. 

The menu is organized into three sections. The main part features many egg dishes like beef tenderloin benedict with poached egg and kimchee, Peking duck w poached egg and poblanos rajas, veggie benedict, cured salmon and vegetable omelettes, rounded out with dishes like bacon fried rice, and banh mi and ground beef sliders. We mostly bypass this section, picking only the grilled salmon. It was a thick, fresh piece, charred and crisp outside, pink and butter soft inside. We are definitely off to a great start.

We then decide to work our way down the two submenus `Ceviche/ Sushi /Salad’ and `Dim Sum and Antojitos’. As I was ready to order the first two items, the seafood and seabass ceviches, Susan declared she was `not a ceviche person’. No problem, I replied, I could easily handle them myself with no help from her. The seafood ceviche was meaty with a medley of seafood; it was also sweet and fruity, brightened up with orange juice, not sour at all like your typical ceviche. The sea bass ceviche was less meaty, more sour, and spicier. I persuade Susan to give the seafood a try. She hesitantly obliged, forking a tiny bite, then dug into a bigger one to understand it better. Next thing, Ms `I’m not a ceviche person’ is placing an order of her own. 

Next item on the menu was familiar – the chipotle yellow fin tuna roll, which is also part of the regular lunch menu. Having sampled it on a previous visit, I knew it to be a winner. We each get a plate, and no news was definitely good news: the dish had held up well. Mid-meal, we were ready for the cocktails. Neither of us being serious drinkers, we decide to split a mango mimosa and a lychee bellini, and on hearing our decision, our helpful waiter our offered to split it for us before bringing them out. Both drinks were pleasant. The mimosa was tarter and less fruity than I had expected, and the mango wasn’t obvious. But the lychee bellini was sweeter and definitely captured the essence of the fruit. We trade notes on the cocktails with the next table, and they promptly placed an order of the lychee bellini for themselves. 

Back to the serious task of working our way down the menu. Unsure of how much more we could handle, we decide to stagger future orders two at a time. The next round of ordering brought shrimp vegetable potstickers that were more eggy than usual, and more to Susan’s liking than mine, so generously, I let her have my share, and she is appreciative. The Thai lettuce wraps were an interesting medley of chorizo, shrimp, peanut and tamarind chutney; I love them, but Susan finds them too spicy. Good, now I get the whole plate to myself.

 At about this time the realization set in that our earlier plans for working down the menu had been way too optimistic and would need to be shelved for the next visit. I talk Susan into a final hurrah with the Thai Chicken Empanadas with chile poblano, Oaxaca cheese and mango salsa. We congratulate ourselves on the choice as well as for braving another plate.　

That was when we realized that our plan had called for going back to the first section of the menu and finishing off with the Pan Dulce – the Mexican sweet bread with cinnamon whipped creme, licor 43, star anise, and orange agave syrup. Those plans had definitely gotten waylaid; we paused to rue the one that got away. We say good-bye to the ladies at the adjacent table with whom we had traded notes and agreed that the Zengo brunch is a keeper.

We also agreed that our new friend was definitely onto something picking Zengo because her visitor had wanted to do `something Santa Monica’. Showing off the spanking new dining deck with a view of the ocean and the 3rd St Promenade, enjoying contemporary Latin Asian fusion cuisine from a celebrity chef under a gorgeous Santa Monica sky – isn’t that just SO Santa Monica? 

Of interest to those with plans to visit The Taste, Zengo will be participating in the LA Times’ Labor Day Food and Wine Festival, ads for which are currently blitzting the Los Angeles Times. Chef De Cuisine Rademes Febles himselfwill be there in person at the Fashion Bites Brunch on Sunday, September 4. There, you will be able to chat with him and check out his take on aMofongo, the signature dish of Puerto Rico, which consists of a mashed mound of plantains combined with seafood, meat, or vegetables. In keeping with the Zengo spirit of Latin Asian fusion, Febles is pairing the plantains with Peking Duck.

Zengo is open for brunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Satuday and Sunday is located on the 3rd floor of Santa Monica Place, between Broadway and Colorado.