Just decided last minute to try a walk-in at Elena’s since we really enjoyed our lunch here awhile ago and wanted to see what dinner was like. We were told we’d have a 45 minute wait, so we went to the bar and ordered some margaritas. Andrea had the spicy watermelon (jalapeno tequila and mezcal) and I had the High Roller (made with Don Julio Anejo and grand marnier float). Both were quite good although we both preferred the High Roller. In the end, we only waited about 10 minutes before our table was ready.

We started with some hamachi crudo with ponzu which was good, but not great…we don’t often find a crudo that matches up to the hamachi dishes at a sushi restaurant.

For our mains, we wanted to try a variety so I went with the combo platter with selections of a dungeness crab enchilada, the chile relleno, and the pork tamale and andrea had Burrito Mojado Divorciado with skirt steak carne asada. Both dishes were generally tasty. The burrito half with the tomatillo sauce (which had a nice acidity) was a bit tastier than the half with the guajillo sauce, but the carne asada was very well seasoned either way.

For my combo platter, I liked the enchilada (I love dungeness crab) and Andrea prefered the tamale. The chille relleno was meh.

Even though we were pretty full, we decided to try dessert because that’s the way we roll. We ordered the churros and the cheesecake (mexican spiced coffee cheesecake). 3 of the 5 churros were slightly undercooked so it made them too doughy, but the other two were well fried and were pretty tasty, esp. with the dark chocolate sauce. The cheesecake was whipped, almost like a mousse so was very light and airy. There just wasn’t quite enough mexican spice flavor or honestly enough cheesiness, but the sauce was ok, but the sauce from the churros was even better (darker).

The vibe at the restaurant, esp. when we arrived was very energetic and lively (died down a bit halfway through the meal) which was very nice to be immersed in. We enjoyed the meal but the dishes we had this time around definitely seemed a bit more California/gringo mexican rather than mexico mexican, but it was a tasty version of what it was.