If you were to hear “Baja” whispered in your ear, snapshot impressions of fun, escapist experiences would likely ensue.
I’ve only been to the Baja peninsula off the western coast of Mexico once — in a previous life, on a working trip to Los Cabos. I stayed in a luxury hotel, dined at luxury restaurants and sailed on a luxury boat.
Sure it was nice, but it could’ve been anywhere — that kind of trip seems designed for travelers who want the cocoon of constant opulence often found in familiar high-end brands. In fact, one of the locations I visited was previously C, the closed restaurant once opened by the late Charlie Trotter.
Baha, a new Mexican-family-owned, Latin American-inspired seafood restaurant in Chicago, does something different. It’s nicer for the neighborhood, yet still familiar. I say this as someone whose family has lived blocks away for nearly 50 years. We count among our luxuries a wealth of favorite paleta, elote and champurrado street vendors.
Tucked away on the new colorful outdoor patio nearby though, you might believe the sea is just steps away, while grounded among blocks and blocks of brick bungalow homes.
“It’s inspired by a mix of seafood restaurants that we’ve been to in Nayarit, Mexico,” said Oriana Mejia, marketing manager and sometimes host. Her parents, Sandra Mejia and Jose Humberto Mejia, and uncle, Gustavo Mejia, own the Belmont Cragin restaurant.
Her father and uncle also own the supermarket Supermercado Morelia across the street. Their flagship store in West Rogers Park has a taqueria too. “Our family is from Michoacan, that’s actually central Mexico, so it’s not even close,” she added. “We just always loved visiting the coast.”
The drinks were inspired by family trips to Oaxaca, famous for mezcal.
“My dad is usually the one behind the bar, then my uncle’s the one in the kitchen, making sure all of that flows smoothly,” Mejia said. “They came over alone as immigrants when my dad was 15 and my uncle was 12, and both started working at restaurants.”
If you get the sense that Baha is the restaurant they’ve always wanted to open for themselves, it’s no wonder. Chips and three fiery salsa — tomatillo, mango and papaya — are not only complimentary, but also accompanied by an amuse-bouche of ceviche with a basket of tostadas and crackers.
Appetizers include a dish they call Torre Sears ($16) — Sears Tower — promising shrimp, crab, fish and mango. What arrives at your table is a cucumber spire topping a towering ceviche platform with too much cocktail sauce, which is always just about right. Swiped through with cracked tostadas, the acidic yet sweetly spiced salsa holds more pristine seafood than your makeshift chip and mouth should allow — also just about right. This is a Chicago Party Aunt-sized app meant to be shared over cocktails or a bucket of bottled beers.
“We wanted a nicer presentation of a ceviche type of dish,” said Mejia, who shared that her inspiration was from a food truck in Los Angeles, where she graduated from the University of Southern California last year with a master’s degree in marketing and communication. “I went to one mariscos truck that had a bunch of different torres, seafood towers. I was like, ‘Oh my God, these are amazing. We should have some of our own, but make them creative and have fun names.’”
It was her idea to call theirs Torre Sears, not Torre Willis, or Willis Tower, as the once tallest skyscraper in the world is now known.
“It’s always been the Sears Tower,” said Mejia, 24, laughing. “I can’t change now.”
The extensive menu lists sections with cocteles (as in seafood, not drinks, but more on the latter later), meat and chicken, plus house special entrees.
One of the fan favorites is the piña del mar ($19), a pineapple stuffed with seafood and covered in melted cheese. It’s a head-turner and just too much, and yes, you’re sensing a theme. The gratin was gratuitous but restrained, and revealed beautiful, big, fat shrimp and tender octopus tentacles.
The pasta del mar ($18) with fettuccine, shrimp, squid and mussels in a seafood cream sauce was a sleeper hit. That lovely buttery sauce, and yet another generous serving of impeccably cooked seafood, more than made up for noodles cooked a little softer than al dente.
The arroz con mariscos ($22) was a surprisingly big miss given the value and quality of the other dishes I tasted. It’s mostly the same rice offered as an entree side, plus a scant scattering of shrimp, octopus, clams and mussels. The catch of the day ($18), red snapper, was far better served cured as ceviche than sautéed in a bland blond crust.
Signature dishes feature the two seafood platters that are, by far, the highest-priced items: mariscada el chino ($250) and cazuela de Carlos ($150), named for the late, youngest Mejia brother who first had the idea to open the restaurant, but died in February unexpectedly due to an accident, said his niece, Oriana Mejia.
“After five years of planning the restaurant, he planned on opening last year,” she said. “But then COVID happened, and then sadly, he passed away. That propelled my Uncle Gustavo and my dad to keep going and make my Uncle Carlos’ dream come true.”
The platters aren’t as popular since they are pricier, but customers have ordered them as takeout for parties and events at home, Mejia said. The menu continues with tacos (on corn tortillas handmade at their supermarket across the street) plus salads, fish, shrimp, soup, sides and a kids section with the universal burger and chicken fingers.
Desserts are also made at the market. The flan de elote ($8) holds a delicate corn custard on a quivering caramel crust. The churros ($7), traditional fried dough rolled in cinnamon and drizzled with chocolate and strawberry, melt on vanilla ice cream.
They’re well-made, but anticlimactic, given the spectacular savory dishes. A slice of the seasonal tres leches cake ($8), currently coconut, may ease the disappointment.
Or just cut to the drinks, with nonalcoholic Mexican soda pops ($3) or the showstopping specialty cocktails. This was not a neighborhood with craft cocktails or ice spheres, until now. El Escorpión ($15), with serrano-infused tequila and mezcal, holds a pineapple-serrano ice sphere, and cilantro for good measure.
As a person who suffers from low alcohol tolerance and Asian flush reaction (sometimes kindly called Asian glow), I planned ahead before ordering the stunning flight of four mezcalitas ($30). I did not drive. I prepared to walk home. If I couldn’t walk, I had a ride on call. I strongly suggest you make similar preparations, because you, unlike me, might finish the drinks that are delicious, balanced and strong.
Start with the jalapeño cucumber (more cooling fruit than pepper heat), then progress to blood orange, hibiscus and finish with tamarind, garnished with a whole pod filled with mouth-puckering pitted seeds. All the glasses are rimmed with agave worm salt, adding a touch of minerality.
“That was my dad’s idea,” Mejia said. “We went on a trip to Oaxaca and he tried a mezcal shot, and they gave him a little bit of the salt on the side with some oranges.”
Despite their close family working relationships, one mystery remains: the name of the restaurant. It’s not an alternate spelling for the Baja peninsula of Mexico.
“I literally just asked my mom,” Mejia said. “I don’t even know what the name means. My uncle named the restaurant before he passed, but we don’t know why he chose it. He never told anyone what it meant. We don’t know if the letters stand for something, if it’s an acronym. We have no idea.”
One thing the family knew is what they wanted in the neighborhood.
“We just wanted something that was different,” Mejia said. “Someplace nicer, where people could sit down and eat with their family to celebrate birthdays, graduations or whatever. We just wanted a place where people could come and make memories.”
As I wrapped my leftovers to go, the mariachi band leader came over to ask me if I’d like them to play something happy or romantic. I asked him to play however he felt. I, meanwhile, walked home a happy romantic.
Baha
4842 W. Diversey Ave.
773-283-8984
Open: Sunday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday to 11 p.m.
Prices: Entrees $18 to $23
Noise: Conversation-friendly
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible, with two restrooms on single level
Tribune rating: 2 stars, very good
Ratings key: Four stars, outstanding; three stars, excellent; two stars, very good; one star, good; no stars, unsatisfactory. Meals are paid for by the Tribune.
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