Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Quixote builds a church to Baroque Mexican food

In elaborate remodel of the old Red Fox Room, rich antojitos match the decor

The "corn crab doughnut": a savory masa donut topped with blue crab salad and caviar
The "corn crab doughnut": a savory masa donut topped with blue crab salad and caviar

“I’m struggling to remember what it looked like before.”


We’ve come to see what’s been made of the space formerly known as the Red Fox Room. Before it moved into a standalone location across the street, that steakhouse-slash-piano bar held down this northeast corner of the North Park’s Lafayette Hotel for six decades. 

Place

Quixote

2223 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego

Long cherished for its vintage ambience — leather booths, dark wood paneling, and leaded glass — I’d thought of the Red Fox as hard to forget. But so ornate are this new restaurant’s interiors, I can barely recall what my own bedroom looks like, let alone another eatery/drinkery.


The new-look lobby of North Park's historic Lafayette Hotel


It's not just the restaurant. The entire Lafayette has been extensively reimagined with the sort of no-holds-barred maximalism we’ve come to expect from Consortium Holdings. The hospitality group — responsible for such intensively decorated dining spots as Ironside and Morning Glory — got its hands on the Lafayette a couple years back, and promptly got to work with a Brooklyn design studio on a floor-to-ceiling remodel sumptuous enough to make a Gilded Age mansion blush.


My visual cortex has been overstimulated since the moment we set foot in the hotel — its lobby an eccentric mash-up of art deco, rococo, and tiger print. Every color, pattern, and texture has found a place, if not here, then around the hotel bar, down the halls, into the rooms. It’s shiny with polished chrome, wood, and marble; plush with velvet, suede, and tasseled upholstery. There’s a '50s diner, a two-lane bowling alley, and an updated swimming pool that looks like it appeared on an episode of Mad Men.


Vintage stained glass from an old Catholic church transported from Mexico


But most impressive of all may be this refashioned corner restaurant: Quixote. According to the website of said Brooklyn design firm, Post Company, the restaurant and mezcaleria was pieced together from parts of a decommissioned church, salvaged and shipped from somewhere in Mexico. No word on how old a church, exactly, but ancient enough to yield cobblestone floors, elaborate stained-glass windows, ceramic tiles, and “baroque pews.” I can’t recall the last time I dined beneath hand-finished corbels, or ceiling beams likewise painted with the charming decorative patterns of a distant time and place.


Sponsored
Sponsored
Stained glass and church pews lend to the standout design of Quixote


Though Quixote clearly namechecks the Man of La Mancha, a region of Spain, its cuisine, like the church, hails from Mexico — most notably Oaxaca. Thanks in large part to its famed seven moles, Oaxacan cuisine may be perceived as occupying the higher end of Mexican dining. So yes, it’s worth pointing out that this may be the priciest Mexican food you’ll encounter in San Diego. After all, prices must reflect the reported $25 million hotel purchase, not to mention the cost of moving a church across international borders.


So, a very short list of sharable entrées (each served with house-made tortillas) starts at $49 — that for a whole roasted fish, such as branzino. A dry-aged ribeye goes for $95. At $63 sits crispy lamb belly, served with chichilo, one of the lesser known of the seven moles, made using charred chili peppers. That would be my choice, were money no object.


Instead, we’ll spend what we have in sampling from the heart of the menu: its small plates. Playing again with the influence of Spain, our server describes them as tapas. But most are what Mexican food aficionados know as antojitos.


The so-called “little cravings” of antojitos bars typically showcase different ways to prepare corn tortillas, and you see that here. There’s the crispy tostada of the scallop and uni aquachile ($18); and the thicker, chewy, sope base of duck carnitas memelita ($15, dressed by a laudable rendition of Oaxaca’s notoriously complex black mole). More exotic is a plaintain and chili tamal, the succulent, steamed masa dressed with yellow mole and topped with mussels escabeche ($16).


Scallop and uni aguachile, on a table tiled with religious iconography


The restaurant recommends three order per person to make a complete meal, so even before you consider a $15 mezcal cocktail, the “tapas” can add up. But for a special occasion, I have to concede the experience is worth it, even if you stop yourself at just two plates — and not merely because the masa’s said to be ground from heirloom grains. The mystical, candlelit atmosphere may hinder photography, but Quixote is incredible to behold. It’ll be that much more enjoyable if you get a kick out of seeing highbrow ingredients deliver almost fanciful takes on dishes typically regarded as street food.


Or all-the-way fanciful, as in the case of Quixote’s crab corn doughnut, which turns masa into a savory donut, standing in a puddle of burnt chili emulsion, and topped with a pile of blue crab and caviar ($21). This unexpected dish best embodies the way Quixote’s take on Mexican food matches the baroque spirit of the entire hotel remodel: packed with so many sensory details, you won’t be able to think of anything other than what’s in front of you.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Dia de los Muertos Celebration, Love Thy Neighbor(Hood): Food & Art Exploration

Events November 2-November 6, 2024
Next Article

At 4pm, this Farmer's Table restaurant in Chula Vista becomes Acqua e Farina

Brunch restaurant by day, Roman style trattoria by night
The "corn crab doughnut": a savory masa donut topped with blue crab salad and caviar
The "corn crab doughnut": a savory masa donut topped with blue crab salad and caviar

“I’m struggling to remember what it looked like before.”


We’ve come to see what’s been made of the space formerly known as the Red Fox Room. Before it moved into a standalone location across the street, that steakhouse-slash-piano bar held down this northeast corner of the North Park’s Lafayette Hotel for six decades. 

Place

Quixote

2223 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego

Long cherished for its vintage ambience — leather booths, dark wood paneling, and leaded glass — I’d thought of the Red Fox as hard to forget. But so ornate are this new restaurant’s interiors, I can barely recall what my own bedroom looks like, let alone another eatery/drinkery.


The new-look lobby of North Park's historic Lafayette Hotel


It's not just the restaurant. The entire Lafayette has been extensively reimagined with the sort of no-holds-barred maximalism we’ve come to expect from Consortium Holdings. The hospitality group — responsible for such intensively decorated dining spots as Ironside and Morning Glory — got its hands on the Lafayette a couple years back, and promptly got to work with a Brooklyn design studio on a floor-to-ceiling remodel sumptuous enough to make a Gilded Age mansion blush.


My visual cortex has been overstimulated since the moment we set foot in the hotel — its lobby an eccentric mash-up of art deco, rococo, and tiger print. Every color, pattern, and texture has found a place, if not here, then around the hotel bar, down the halls, into the rooms. It’s shiny with polished chrome, wood, and marble; plush with velvet, suede, and tasseled upholstery. There’s a '50s diner, a two-lane bowling alley, and an updated swimming pool that looks like it appeared on an episode of Mad Men.


Vintage stained glass from an old Catholic church transported from Mexico


But most impressive of all may be this refashioned corner restaurant: Quixote. According to the website of said Brooklyn design firm, Post Company, the restaurant and mezcaleria was pieced together from parts of a decommissioned church, salvaged and shipped from somewhere in Mexico. No word on how old a church, exactly, but ancient enough to yield cobblestone floors, elaborate stained-glass windows, ceramic tiles, and “baroque pews.” I can’t recall the last time I dined beneath hand-finished corbels, or ceiling beams likewise painted with the charming decorative patterns of a distant time and place.


Sponsored
Sponsored
Stained glass and church pews lend to the standout design of Quixote


Though Quixote clearly namechecks the Man of La Mancha, a region of Spain, its cuisine, like the church, hails from Mexico — most notably Oaxaca. Thanks in large part to its famed seven moles, Oaxacan cuisine may be perceived as occupying the higher end of Mexican dining. So yes, it’s worth pointing out that this may be the priciest Mexican food you’ll encounter in San Diego. After all, prices must reflect the reported $25 million hotel purchase, not to mention the cost of moving a church across international borders.


So, a very short list of sharable entrées (each served with house-made tortillas) starts at $49 — that for a whole roasted fish, such as branzino. A dry-aged ribeye goes for $95. At $63 sits crispy lamb belly, served with chichilo, one of the lesser known of the seven moles, made using charred chili peppers. That would be my choice, were money no object.


Instead, we’ll spend what we have in sampling from the heart of the menu: its small plates. Playing again with the influence of Spain, our server describes them as tapas. But most are what Mexican food aficionados know as antojitos.


The so-called “little cravings” of antojitos bars typically showcase different ways to prepare corn tortillas, and you see that here. There’s the crispy tostada of the scallop and uni aquachile ($18); and the thicker, chewy, sope base of duck carnitas memelita ($15, dressed by a laudable rendition of Oaxaca’s notoriously complex black mole). More exotic is a plaintain and chili tamal, the succulent, steamed masa dressed with yellow mole and topped with mussels escabeche ($16).


Scallop and uni aguachile, on a table tiled with religious iconography


The restaurant recommends three order per person to make a complete meal, so even before you consider a $15 mezcal cocktail, the “tapas” can add up. But for a special occasion, I have to concede the experience is worth it, even if you stop yourself at just two plates — and not merely because the masa’s said to be ground from heirloom grains. The mystical, candlelit atmosphere may hinder photography, but Quixote is incredible to behold. It’ll be that much more enjoyable if you get a kick out of seeing highbrow ingredients deliver almost fanciful takes on dishes typically regarded as street food.


Or all-the-way fanciful, as in the case of Quixote’s crab corn doughnut, which turns masa into a savory donut, standing in a puddle of burnt chili emulsion, and topped with a pile of blue crab and caviar ($21). This unexpected dish best embodies the way Quixote’s take on Mexican food matches the baroque spirit of the entire hotel remodel: packed with so many sensory details, you won’t be able to think of anything other than what’s in front of you.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Big swordfish, big marlin, and big money

Trout opener at Santee Lakes
Next Article

Morricone Youth, Berkley Hart, Dark Entities, Black Heart Procession, Monsters Of Hip-Hop

Live movie soundtracks, birthdays and more in Balboa Park, Grantville, Oceanside, Little Italy
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader