Bringing an organic venture to life in a small beach town, local executive chef, Sean Chaney, and renowned restaurant designer, Michael Lindenlaub started Hot’s Kitchen, a joint full of flavor and friendly service. Parallel to the sandy shores of Hermosa Beach located on Hermosa Ave., sits the not so typical taco spot, which was built on sustainability and a health conscience. Forget about gnawing on a raw lima bean or a cooked vegemite nugget, these stylish dishes make healthy taste good.
While the menu is comprised of casual food made from the freshest seasonal ingredients, Chaney and Lindenlaud’s design for Hot’s Kitchen centered on the environment. Keeping a green concept in mind during the build, the entire restaurant was made from reclaimed wood, while all the seats were designed from recycled aluminum cans. The floor is the original concrete foundation and the few lights that hang are merely leftover wire and light bulbs. The napkins in each place setting are made from recycled paper and the flatware and glasses are always cleaned with natural cleaning supplies. Large open skylights in the middle of the restaurant were cut out in order to let natural light in and therefore, use less electricity. There are also garage doors that remain open in the front of the restaurant to let the breeze blow through during the hot summer days.
Hot’s Kitchen boasts a healthy variety to those not-so-healthy taco spots. Whether you are looking for fish, chicken or steak, Hot’s Kitchen offers over 50 traditional and non-traditional tacos on any given day, but the options tend to change depending on the season. Cooking with 100 percent organic, locally grown produce and hormone-free meats, the restaurant supports local farmers and small businesses throughout Southern California. But don’t expect to get full off of a couple tacos. While the fill each tortilla with lots of ingredients, their size is on the smaller side.
The seared ahi taco ($4.25) is served with lightly blackened ahi tuna drizzled with edamame puree to offer a simple flavor to a tortilla. But to taste a little more spice, the slivered jalapeños in the dirty bird taco ($3.25) gives the shredded white-meat chicken and grilled onions a bit of a kick then drizzled with a pepper aioli definitely makes this taco a spicy fan’s favorite. Your mom’s favorite taco ($3.25) with seasoned ground beef screams ordinary, but the crisp iceberg lettuce and a dollop of sour cream gives this taco a very refreshing taste. The spicy tuna taco ($4.25) is filled with cubes of ahi tuna stacked high and topped with fresh seaweed salad, enoki mushrooms, a dash of hot sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. The bitter seaweed flavor cuts into the heat of the hot sauce, but it’s the fresh taste of sushi grade ahi tuna that rings it. While the original ocean taco ($3.75) is made with jerk rubbed shrimp, onions, cilantro and salsa verde and packed with flavor, there are only two average size shrimp to bite down on, which makes this taco not worth the price. The fried chicken taco ($3.25) comes with mashed potatoes and gravy, but is better left outside the tortilla. The flavor from the tortilla didn’t compliment the gravy.
Since vegetarian options are hard to come by, the tofu curry taco might just be the most brilliant one on the menu—tasty yellow curry coats the peas, carrots and tofu creating a classic Thai dish wrapped in a tortilla.
Aside from the tasty taco concoctions, the menu also has a number of small seasonal plates that are far from shareable such as the heirloom tomato salad ($9) served with roasted beets, toasted almonds and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, or coming straight from the Pacific ocean, clams ($12) in a spicy beer broth with toasted slices of ciabatta bread served on the side to soak up the leftover broth are two fresh-tasting options to cleanse the pallet. One thing to take note of; the food comes out at different times, therefore expect to wait up to 15 minutes before all the ordered dishes have arrived at your table.
But never the less, the healthy food served at Hot’s Kitchen is impressive and the actual fresh flavors coming from the natural locally grown and hormone free ingredients will give reason enough to frequent this spot after a long
