Sion’s homestyle Mexican food has kept it a favorite local haunt for 30 years
Architecture speaks louder than signage, and some styles are so associated with a single use that it’s jarring when they’re used for something else. One can imagine someone walking through the door and taking a moment to process that something unexpected is going on.
That happens at least occasionally at Sion’s, the restaurant located in a rustic setting next to the Seahorse Inn in Manhattan Beach. From the outside it looks like the motel coffee shop that it was when this place was built in 1962, the river rock walls and block planters contributing to a sense of mid-century Americana. You can almost smell the fried chicken, steaks, and plain comfort food as you drive up.
They don’t serve those things, unless your idea of comfort food comes from somewhere south of the border. Sion’s is one of the oldest Mexican restaurants in the area, having served for almost thirty years, though nobody actually named Sion has been there since the first four or five. Their specialty is homestyle Mexican food that is about as trendy as the building they’re inhabiting, which is to say not at all. The fads of the last two decades – Mexican fusion, Oaxacan, Chino-Latino – have not penetrated these walls.
That’s perfectly fine with the people who have made Sion’s their everyday hangout for modestly priced meals. This is the opposite, perhaps even the antidote, to flashy: a place to visit for breakfast the day after a very stylish and very expensive dinner – the two will average out.
Things start out with chips and salsa, and I like their salsa enough that I’ve bought it for parties when I was in too much of a rush to make my own. It’s medium thick and medium heat with chunks of onion and shreds of cilantro, and it’s easy to absent-mindedly go through a basket of chips with it. This is even more the case if you also get guacamole on the side – theirs is all cooling and no heat, so it’s enjoyable to alternate with salsa.
If you’re ordering the standard items like burritos and tacos, go for the carnitas – they make it just a bit chewy with bits of crunchy, which is what carnitas is supposed to be in my book. The string beef has some of the same qualities, while the chicken is very moist but doesn’t have much character. The sauce for the burritos and enchiladas is mild and almost orange in color; I happen to prefer the darker, thicker sauces that have a bit more roasted or smoked chile flavor, but this one has a good fresh flavor. The burritos here are served with guacamole and a heap of pico de gallo, so if you find the sauce a bit too mild there’s something to perk it up with right at hand.
The tostadas are more Californian than Mexican, served in a flour shell unless you request otherwise, with a sprinkling of jack cheese. I prefer corn tortillas, which I can get by asking, and cotija, which I can’t. When Sion’s opened you couldn’t find cotija in the South Bay, and as I already noted, things don’t change much here.
While most of the menu is standard, there are a few items that seem to be house inventions. I’ve never seen the “azadero” anywhere else and can’t find it in any Mexican cookbook – it’s a type of hash made with fajita-style steak, potato, onions, and bell peppers, and it’s quite nice. I have seen huevos ahogados before, but not often – as far as I know this is the only place in the South Bay that serves it. The name means “drowned eggs,” and it’s usually a bowl of tomato and chipotle-based salsa with a pair of poached eggs floating in it. Here the thick salsa is replaced by a dark chipotle broth that has a little smoky heat, moderated by the slices of avocado and dollop of sour cream that float in it. It’s an interesting take on an obscure traditional dish, and I’d probably try it as a hangover cure if I was prone to that affliction.
One implication of the motel coffee shop architecture is that you can expect to get hearty traditional breakfasts, and Sion’s does deliver on that. I have to admit that I’ve never had one – every time I’ve been here in the morning I’ve seen the omelettes with breakfast potatoes and toast going by, but I’ve ordered a breakfast burrito. Maybe someday I’ll order an omelette, but since good breakfast burritos are rarer than good omelettes I keep deciding otherwise at the last moment.
Sion’s is a local landmark, and fans of well-crafted old-school Mexican food probably already know about the place. It has weathered changes in fashion and increasing competition – a branch of El Tarasco has been across the street for over a decade, and at least two other Mexican cafes are within half a mile. Sion’s is still doing fine, and if they keep on doing what they do for another twenty-five years their customers will be perfectly happy.
Sion’s is at 235 North Sepulveda in Manhattan Beach – open daily at 8 a.m., close 9 p.m. Tue-Sat, 2 p.m. Sun-Mon. Parking lot, wheelchair access good, patio dining, vegetarian items. Beer and wine served. No website. Phone 310-372-4504. ER
