Esplanade Ridge

Grab some chips and dig into the superb and offbeat salsa (it has a slightly smoky flavor). It's good enough that you will go for a second ration, for which you will have to pay extra--but probably without complaint. Margaritas and guacamole are excellent in their turns. After that, pretend you're in a gourmet bistro. Time for mussels, calamari, steaks, racks of lamb, big flanks of fish, and no small number of other specialties that might not remind you of anything Mexican. But so what? We let Italian and French restaurants get away with that. So why not Creole-Mexican?

CBD

I've found that some restaurants go well beyond being popular, and become so adored by their regulars that one can't take the comments you hear about it seriously. ¶ Singha Thai is such a place. A side effect of this is that a certain number of people go to the restaurant with wildly high expectations triggered by the loyal fans. ¶ Any reports you hear that Singha Thai is the best Thai restaurant in America (or the worst), that it's a terrific bargain or a total ripoff, that portions are enormous or minuscule, or anything else extreme should be ignored. The reality: here is the standard Thai menu, turned out reasonably well, if not always brilliantly.

Mid-City