Hitting the floor to salsa dance requires practicing some steps. And getting to the homemade salsa, in this case sauce, that’s quickly becoming a signature of Limonz Rostizados restaurant, 978 Garnet Ave., takes a few steps, too.
But customers quickly catch on, with one quick lesson from brothers Juan and Bobby Pasalagua, the restaurant’s owners. The entrees, such as half-roasted chicken and pork or beef ribs, as well as the soft tacos, offer customers the choice of two “tops,” any or all garnishes and a choice of salsas.
For salsa beginners, let’s start with the soft taco. The first step is choosing the meat or veggie base, ranging from the house special rotisserie chicken to pork carnitas to veggies or queso fundido.
The second step: deciding on two “tops” among cilantro rice, refried beans, black beans, fajita veggies, poblano rajas (roasted chili strips) and spicy pasta.
On to step three: loading up as many garnishes as desired: tomato, onion, cilantro, lettuce, cucumber, nopales (pads of prickly pear cactus), cheese and cream.
The final step is one that Limonz is mastering: the salsas, the restaurant’s signature flavor, according to Juan. He gives customers a small cup and spoon to sample each one, including avocado-lime, cilantro-basil, moleh cilantro-basil, mango-havanero, chipotle and spicy peanut.
So, for $2.99 diners get a soft taco practically the size of a burrito.
Josh Langfield from Ocean Beach couldn’t quite recall the steps he’d taken to perfect his meal, but he approved of the end result.
“I really like whatever I put on here,” he said. “I know it’s got the peanut salsa, because it tastes like Thai.”
“I can tell you exactly what’s on mine,” said McKay Garner of Los Angeles, a friend of Langfield’s. He had chosen the carnitas with rice, beans, lettuce, sour cream and chipotle salsa.
Garner said he was driving down Garnet Avenue when he spotted Limonz.
“It looked cool from the street,” he said. “And it looked good inside, which meant either it really is good . . . or it just looks good.” After his first meal, Garner decided the ambiance and the food were both excellent, and keeps returning.
Both an attractive restaurant and delicious food were crucial qualities to Juan and Bobby. Their family owned restaurants in Mexico City, so they grew up learning the business. For more than 12 years, they owned their own restaurants, nightclubs and rotisseries in Mexico City before moving to La Jolla three years ago. After looking for a prime location for more than a year, they opened Limonz last November. Bobby manages the kitchen and operations while Juan brings eight years of banking experience to the business side.
“We wanted this restaurant to be very fresh, cool, citrus ” a little different from other restaurants,” Juan said. The brothers created the name by adding a “z” for “zesty” to limon, Spanish for lime. “Rostizados” means roasted, referring to the rotisserie style of chicken that chef Tiffany Athie marinates in citrus juices overnight before roasting it in a state-of-the-art oven that cooks with both dry heated air and humid air.
“It makes the meat very moist, and cooks it in one-third the time of a conventional roaster,” Juan said.
The interior design also reflects the cool, citrus theme. Designer Jules Wilson selected lime green, orange and brown decor along with contemporary furniture to complement the restaurant’s fresh ingredients.
“We make everything from scratch”nothing canned here,” Juan said.
Next to the rotisserie chicken, the salsas grab the spotlight. Customers are already asking if they can buy salsas for home, and Juan said the next step is to bottle them for sale.
Right now, Juan says the most satisfying thing is watching people leave with a smile, and then come back another time.
“When we see regulars, we know we’re doing the right thing,” Juan said.
The restaurant may be benefiting from the word-of-mouth publicity from nearby businesses as well as Garnet Avenue pedestrians. Denise Lloyd, a Pacific Beach resident and stylist at Robert Cromeans Salon West, is a fan of Limonz.
“They hit a gold mine being across the street from a salon,” she said. “We usually only have a few minutes to eat, so we run over there to get something good, and we tell our clients about them.”
Limonz is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 a.m., and Sunday and Monday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Breakfast starts Saturday and Sunday at 7 a.m.
For more information about Limonz, call (858) 605-0093 or visit www.rostizados.com.