My family was looking for something fun for an early supper today. We tried to get into Culinary Dropout, a new place in the Del Mar Highlands Town Center. We saw a crowd, but were were told they aren’t open yet. Apparently it was a VIP crowd. Ah well. I’ll have to go back.
We sauntered over to the SkyDeck and perused the options in this fun space. We really like the Thai place in there (Kiin Thai), but the best crowd vibe in the early Saturday afternoon was at URBANA, an upscale Mexican place we’ve been to twice before.
My wife and I had had the ceviche and tacos in the past. They were very good and didn’t make us feel guilty but we needed to try some new stuff.
We got some guacamole,chips, and the Dorados to start. The guac was great and the dorados were pretty good for little potato tacos.
I did miss some hot sauce with actual heat and I requested some. They wanted to know if I wanted the habanero and I thought that sounded perfect. The server pointed out that she’d need to charge me a dollar. That’s sort of annoying, but what was worse was that it didn’t arrive until our main dishes.
My wife had a burrito which she thought was a little boring. I thought it was great, very fresh with corn and veggies mixed with the steak, on a plate of green sauce. The habanero sauce helped, adding good spice to the fresh flavor.
My son got the Ribeye Torta. He thought the bread and the white sauce were amazing. The ribeye delivered as well. He was happy to have gambled on his first ever torta. I think this one was way better than an average torta. I’m happy whenever he discovers a new food as he could stand to broaden his tastes.
I splurged on the Ribeye Steak Con Papas. I almost ordered the Gringa—al pastor marinated pork quesadilla with guac, chili oil, crema and chili con limo—but at the last second I decided that I just really had to try the 10 ounce ribeye with their special steak sauce.
I made the right choice. I was impressed with the steak sauce, and I liked the steak fries as well.
Of course my wife tried the steak and I gave my son a pretty big hunk. We all liked the sauce.
The service was a little weird but not bad. Sometimes they were too fast, sometimes too slow. They hovered with a slightly anxious energy, attentive to the point of feeling a bit stifling.
The music was ok but kind of boring. My wife was first to comment, “This music is so nondescript. I… I…. I just can’t describe it.”
I pointed out that not being able to describe it is probably the definition of “nondescript.”
My Shazaam app had a hard time identifying some of it, but I know they played Cold as Ice (featuring Tasteful House) [DJ Runo Remix] by Anton Ishutin and Like Gold (featuring Stephen Puth) by Loud Luxury & Frank Walker.
After having been to URBANA three times, I have to say the vibe is usually pretty good, but slightly uncomfortable The prices are kind of high, but the food is mostly excellent.
I’ll be back. Next time, I’m trying either the pork quesadilla or the pozole. Or maybe I’ll just have that steak again.
Check out their website at:
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