La Paz: Go-to Spot for Mexican dining
950 Gulf Shore Drive, Destin, 837-2247
Hours: Open daily lunch 11am-2pm, dinner @5pm
2/3

By Bruce Collier July 26, 2007 Issue

The menu at La Paz says the place has been in Destin since 1993. That would make it a sort of pre-teen of restaurants, except that it has characteristics unseen in pre-teens. One is consistency — the menu has remained largely the same over the years, with a few changes. There’s also a consistency of preparation and presentation — food comes out hot and in generous portions. La Paz has also maintained a policy of staying open for lunch and dinner, seven days a week. This has made it a go-to place for area working people, and for vacationers looking for a brief respite from amberjack sandwiches.

The look hasn’t changed, either. Management has maintained a cool, rather dim atmosphere of wooden tables and chairs, with Southwestern-themed paintings and wall decorations. Napkins are cloth, and regulars will recall the familiar round rattan placemats. There are two dining rooms, roughly parallel, and a separate bar/lounge with tables and televisions. I’ve always liked that about La Paz — they let you have your TV and ignore it, too.

La Paz’s dinner menu is two-sided. There’s also a board outside the entrance, marked with daily specials. The server may or may not tell you about them, so best take a look before you go inside. Our server brought us corn chips and two bowls of salsa — red (spicy) and green (milder and garlicky) — took our drink orders, and left.

The place was pretty busy when we arrived, with a large party along a wall and numerous foursomes. This was a little surprising, considering it was a night early in the week. At least three large parties arrived within minutes after we were seated. I think the house must have been surprised, too. One server and a few bussers had to cover the entire room. This usually tends to make service either super-fast or super-slow. Ours tended toward the former. We eventually managed to make it understood that we were not in a hurry, but I still felt a little rushed. We had to push empty plates off to the side for most of the evening, and ask that they be removed.

La Paz offers starters, soups, salads, grilled or sautÈed seafood, fajitas, tamales and chilies rellenos, burritos, enchiladas, tacos, nachos, quesadillas, and house combos. Certain items can be ordered a la carte, and the above are prepared with fish, shellfish, beef, pork, chicken, or vegetables. Rice and black or pinto beans are the sides on most main dishes.

We started with tortilla soup, a bowl of queso (cheese) dip, and jalapeno poppers. The soup was a clear broth, with cubes of avocado, chicken, onions, tomatoes and peppers. My friend thought it needed more lime, which she added. The queso was good, as always. I’m a big fan of poppers, breaded peppers stuffed with cream cheese and fried, and La Paz doesn’t hold back on theirs. About 10 came out smoking hot and crisp, with a tasty marmalade and cilantro dip that cut through the richness.

Other starters are guacamole, spinach artichoke dip, vegetarian black bean soup, and a sampler.

Last time we ate at La Paz for a review, my friend and I both got seafood. This time we went for beef. She got one of the specials, an enchilada with steak and blue cheese. I ordered “San Antonio Reds,” enchiladas with steak and mushrooms, garlic, onion and cheese, with a red chile sauce. Both came with rice and black beans. The kitchen left off the rice for my friend, at her request.

Blue cheese may seem not quite Mexican, but it goes great with steak, and that’s what mattered. My reds were bursting with meat and mushrooms, and I had to let some of my rice and beans go uneaten to finish up. There was still dessert.

We had a choice of flan, key lime pie, and fried ice cream. I’ve had the flan many times, but not the key lime pie, so we got the latter two. The tangy pie was more modest in size than the ice cream. Rings of real whipped cream surrounded both desserts. The ice cream was a large ball, served in a crisp-fried flour tortilla “bowl,” with a sweet and crunchy coating that resembled corn flakes with coconut. Oh yes, there was chocolate sauce, too.

La Paz seems to be happy with itself, and its menu. The public seems to share that view. If you haven’t been there lately, check it out. It’s as good as you remember.

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