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A clipped Mexican-American menu lacks distinction
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On a sunny day, the patio at Left Coast Siesta
is nearly irresistible. The food, however, a little
less so.
Either way, you’ve got to go inside to order.
The converted house is festively dressed, with
chili peppers everywhere and corrugated tin sid-
ing on the ceiling, and it’s ringed by hundreds of
bottles of hot sauce. Indeed, hot sauce delivery
almost seems to be Left Coast Siesta’s raison
d’etre — it’s how the food wakes up.
Before the counter, a menu board appears
to offer more than it really does. With a lot of
words and categories it boasts only a few items:
burritos, tacos, a taco salad and enchiladas. Save
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menu, it’s really just those four — all of which
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the same pool of ingredients.
“I’m going to ask you a million questions,”
said the jovial counterperson.
“A million questions?!” I
jousted.
“Don’t worry,” she said.
“It’s going to be worth it. It’s
amazing.”
In terms of customization
— and caring for the dietary
needs of my dining compatri-
ots — she was right. In terms
of taste, well, again, a little
less so.
I ordered two enchiladas
($6.75), and we began going
though the options. I went for
red sauce (as one of the genet-
ically cilantro adverse, green
was out of the question). I’d
have one with spicy chicken,
one with shredded beef, and one of each tortilla,
white and blue corn. On top I’d have everything:
cheese, sour cream, olives and onions. With it I’d
take an order of chips and guacamole ($3.50).
I took my number and headed back to the pa-
tio, but not before lingering over the grand col-
lection of hot sauces. There are bottles and bot-
tles of them, from the well-trodden Cholulas and
Tabascos to small-run craft rarities to the atomic
varieties. Indeed, a good number of those on the
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think ghost chilies. (Many such bottles featured
an extra “hot” label added by the house, but I
can’t help but wonder how many meals have
been decimated by a few drops of these absurd
sauces by unsuspecting teens with grinning in-
tention.) And though in my civilian life I am a
veteran collector and voracious consumer of hot
sauces, as the Mouth I make a point to abstain
Indeed, hot
sauce delivery
almost seems
to be Left
Coast Siesta’s
raison d’etre
— it’s how
the food
wakes up.
24 | June 18, 2015 | coastweekend.com
— I feel it’s best to taste the foods as prepared
by the kitchen, with as little outside tinkering as
possible.
The enchiladas at Left Coast, however, cried
out to be spiced! The red sauce was dark and
smoky. Combined with the cheese and sour
cream, it needed something bright (lettuce and
tomatoes would’ve helped in this regard). Un-
derneath the red sauce, the color of the tortillas
was unimportant, as they tasted similar. So too
did the chicken and beef. Each was shredded
at the same consistency, and featured the same
spicing — with chile peppers, garlic, onion,
cumin, oregano and other spices. That list might
lead you to believe that the meats at Left Coast
were delicately labored over. I found the oppo-
site to be true: They were very simply prepared,
with little or nothing to make them stand out.
And that’s kind of the story of Left Coast writ
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outstanding taste. Sure, the restaurant professes to
use untainted ingredients — the back of the menu
goes into detail about the organic sources. But just
because ingredients come from pure or sustainable
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In a lot of cases, I felt as if the offerings were sim-
The Mouth thought the enchiladas at Left Coast Siesta needed more spice.
ply the product of pairing slightly more expensive
grocery store cans. Missing was something — any-
thing — to make the recipes their own.
Left Coast Siesta isn’t quite traditional Mex-
ican-American fare, and it doesn’t pivot toward
anything new. It just is. And the little spicing to
be found is duplicated across the menu. A mix
of chile powder, cumin, garlic, onion and some-
times cayenne can be found in the chicken, the
mouth
OF THE COLUMBIA
COAST WEEKEND’S LOCAL RESTAURANT REVIEW
Story and photo by THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA • mouth@coastweekend.com
Left Coast Siesta
Rating:
288 Laneda Ave., Manzanita
503-368-7997
leftcoastsiesta.com
HOURS: 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday,
and 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.
PRICE: $ – Everything on the menu is less than $8
SERVICE: Smiling faces and quick turnaround
VEGETARIAN / VEGAN OPTIONS: Plenty
DRINKS: Bottled soda, beer
beef, the beans (both the black beans and the
“refried,” each made without any lard or ani-
mal products) and the salsa. All that adds up to a
great deal of sameness. I guessed what the Taco
Salad ($6.75) would taste like beforehand and
hit it right on the nose. The veggies were fresh,
and the beans had that familiar (but not particu-
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The guacamole was highly disappointing,
which is odd, because just mushing up a fresh
avocado without adding a single thing would’ve
been better than the extremely salty green paste
we received.
Still, for all my kvetching, there is some val-
ue for health-conscious vegetarians (who don’t
mind their food a bit on the bland side), as well
as for starving bellies. Left Coast Siesta’s Big
Burrito ($6.50) is truly enormous. The size of
a football, it weighs somewhere in the neigh-
borhood of a pound-and-a-half. I tried one with
tequila-lime chicken, and while the zing of the
lime was mild, the addition of lettuce and to-
mato felt like bits of treasure in comparison to
my dark enchiladas. Adjacent to me, a table of
teenagers devoured the entirety of their burritos.
And that made a whole lot of sense. But those
seeking Mexican food a little more delicate, bal-
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a different patio.
KEY TO RATINGS
poor
below average
good & worth returning
excellent
outstanding, the best in the
Columbia-Pacific region
