If you're one of the people who still watch TV commercials these days, you can't escape the ones Taleo has been broadcasting on local cable channels in Irvine and surrounding areas. While slow tracking, wide-angle shots of the restaurant fade in and out, a seductive female voice purrs the re-branding of the restaurant which now boasts “a tantalizing blend of traditional Mexican and contemporary Asian”. If she weren't talking about food, you'd expect her to give out a 900 number at the end.
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Taleo, which prompted a rare review where Gustavo revised an earlier pan to a praise,
is now obviously under different ownership (Moe Ghazi, who also owns
Mosun, Ten Asian Bistro, Tentation Ultra Lounge and Momo's Margarita
Bar). There's now two chopsticks forming the “X” in “Mexican” and the
employment of the word “fusion”, a term that I thought died with
parachute pants.
I haven't actually visited the place, but a quick check of the online
menu yields no evidence to any sort of “blending”. In fact, unless the
website hasn't been updated, so far I see no Asian elements except for
ponzu and yuzu that's used in section of crudo (which is Italian). Any
hopes of mine for a brick-and-mortar Dos Chinos/Kogi-kind of true
Mexi-Asian, yes, “fusion” has, for now, turned to mild “confusion”.
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.