Speaking of Gjusta, I finally got their huevos rancheros.
I am not sure if the dish totally deserves the name or not. The tortillas are crispy and fried, not warm and soft fresh off the griddle, the beans are whole and white, and there is chard in the dish. All that being said the saline piquant salsa and earthy ranchero sauce as well as the orange yolks of the cojita covered eggs are spot on. The soul of great huevos rancheros is captured, and it is nice to be able to eat a version of the dish that is shockingly light. The white beans and chard probably help a lot in that regard. The salty astringent chard also gives the dish a new dimension that traditional preps lack. The crunchy tortillas make the dish more like chilaquiles in a good way, though I prefer the fresh soft tortillas at Anaya. I personally wish they had a hotter salsa and I needed extra, but it’s a highly respectable salsa nonetheless. I realize Gjusta is expensive but I don’t get why the dish is $15. It seems overpriced even by Gjusta standards. Their steak and eggs is only like $17 and contains the same two eggs plus bread and veggies… one would think just two eggs and tortillas with beans and chard would be more like $10 in comparison. Still if you can easily ignore the price and want a light version of huevos rancheros it is a pleasant enough plate.
Details:
Their pastries leave a lot to be desired though.
Their Baklava Croissant is terrible. It looks good but has the quality of a shorty store-bought croissant, basically lifeless. Stuffed with 3rd rate baklava tasting of charred mush. Hard to believe something this bad could be made. I actually tried one of these before and it wasn’t great but I thought they might’ve improved… somehow they have actually made it worse, as the baklava used to at least be palatable.
The Kumquat Cheese Danish was better because the pastry was actually crisp and buttery with fine flaky layers. But somehow the cheese and kumquats didn’t work at alll. The ratios were way off. Felt like eating a pastry designed to be cool rather than flavorful.
I offloaded the pastries to someone happier to have them than I on 3rd street outside, and took off for Howlin Rays and Burgerlords feeling good, but with a mental note to never get another pastry from Gjusta ever again, no matter how good they look. I kept a loaf of Sourdough for myself though; the best sourdough Ive ever had for my tastebuds.
How does a place that does bread so right do pastries so wrong?