A Familia Thing

“I’m glad to see it’s catching on,” said somebody behind me, a little ruefully. It was just short of 7 p.m. and there was already getting to be a wait at Mi Familia.

I was thinking that too, but I was also thinking: Why “Mi Familia”? Who figured that was the best name for a sophisticated little restaurant located at an established avant-garde address (the former Indigo), a place of spare white walls tastefully adorned with watercolors? Sure, there’s a maitre d’ who makes everybody feel at home, but he’s a suavely flamboyant charmer, not your basic older brother.

Well, whatever, just as long as you realize that Mi Familia is not the Mexican equivalent of the red-checked-tablecloth Italian restaurant. It specializes in what you might call nouvelle Mexican food.

But not Southwestern cuisine, which is something classically trained American chefs invented by getting creative with Mexican ingredients. To put it another way, you can get mineral water and decaf espresso here, but there’s no mesquite grill. The dishes are basically Mexican classics, or pretty close, with bold and unusual touches. In the course of the menu about 18 different sauces are mentioned.

Shortly after you sit down, a waiter brings you a couple of totopitos (corn chips with a dab of spinach and beans on them) to tide you over while you study the menu. There’s plenty to read, most of it unfamiliar--the usual taco and burrito options are only mentioned in the small print at the bottom of the page.

The appetizers, good as they sound, are not the strongest part of the menu. There are some enjoyable ones, certainly. Tamalitos monteregianos is two small, homey, handmade pork tamales in a little tomato sauce. There are some delicious fried chicken and crab cakes (tortitas de pollo y cangrejo) in a red bell pepper sauce spiked with smoky chipotle peppers. The Caesar salad is pretty classical, though a little heavy-handed with the anchovies and Parmesan.

But the only interesting thing about the chile relleno is the spicy walnut sauce. A sort of mushroom-topped sope (hongos al ajillo) comes off rather vague, despite a dash of garlic. Ensalada de nopales is a bland salad of cactus paddles and tiny river shrimp.

And the soups seem to be in need of something. Caldo tlalpen~o is a big bowl of chipotle-scented carrots, avocado chunks and bits of chicken in broth that could use a dash of lime juice. Even the caldo de lima--a rather thick red-orange soup with shrimp and tomatoes--might be better with more lime juice than it has.

The entrees, all very good, come with simple boiled pinto beans and usually with some fresh corn tortillas (patted out unobtrusively by a young woman behind the bar). Many of the meats are presented in rather a Californian style on dabs of buttery mashed potatoes. Puerco en salsa al molcajete, for instance: thin slices of pork loin topped with a sweet pepper puree. Combo de tres combines this pork with beef medallions in port and chile cream sauce and chicken breast in a complex mole sauce, each meat sample on its own mashed potatoes.

Milanesa usually means a sort of chicken-fried steak, but here the meat is sliced very thin, scarcely breaded at all and cooked until almost crunchy. The slices are mounted on spinach, instead of potatoes, and sprinkled with onion shreds fried very brown.

Fish comes with a choice of sauces. Salsa corriente, for instance, a snappy mixture of tomatoes, white wine, capers, garlic and guajillo peppers. Even fish estilo Veracruz--in a classic sauce of roasted peppers, tomatoes, capers and green olives, traditionally boring in L.A. restaurants--is good here.

For my money, the best entrees are quasi-European, such as guisado de Provincia, basically a French beef stew in strong red wine sauce with the subtle abrasiveness of ground ancho peppers. One night there was a special of lamb shanks with prunes, in a very dark, slightly sweet sauce (with a subtly sardonic touch of ground pasilla pepper) that went surprisingly well with fresh corn tortillas.

Among the desserts, the filling of the torta de limon is a little runny but sharply sweet-sour and full of lemon flavor. There’s a dense flan with a dose of orange flavor and a homey-looking tartlet topped with sweet potato slices. The best, though perhaps the silliest, is guayabas rellenas de natilla de coco: hollowed guavas filled with coconut puree on a plate crisscrossed with chocolate. If that’s how your familia eats, I’m free for dinner most nights.

BE THERE

Mi Familia, 8222 1/2 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles. (213) 653-2121. Lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; dinner 5:30-10 p.m. daily. Beer and wine only. Valet parking. All major credit cards. Dinner for two, food only $29-$45. What to Get: tortitas de pollo y cangrejo, guisado de Provincia, chuletas de puerco in pumpkin seed sauce, lamb shanks with prunes (on special), guayabas rellenas de natilla de coco.