Thursday Lunch – Saylor's Restaurant

Remember that thing called ‘Thursday Lunch’ at One Harbor Drive? (If not, check out our first Thursday Lunch blog here.) For those of you who don’t know here’s what it is: every Thursday, we here at Marin Magazine are committed to picking a place in Marin, ordering food, eating it and blogging about the things we like (a Polyanna version of Julie Powell in Julie & Julia).

This week, we chose Saylor’s Restaurant in Sausalito (“A taste of Cabo in Marin,” according to the tagline), which is just a couple block south of our office. Owners and long-time Marin residents Sean and Sonja Saylor opened the restaurant after falling in love with Cabo on vacation. The interior décor is a festive blend of southern colors and the busy traffic of Bridgeway is barely noticeable. Sean himself helped bring our three bags of food to my car!

Okay, enough background. Let’s get down to the guacamole, ceviche and almond-crusted tilapia tacos!

Taco Salad: flour tortilla bowl with grilled chicken, onions and bell peppers, black beans, Romaine, sour cream, guacamole and pico de gallo, $14.95

Luncher: Mimi T.

Thoughts: Mimi decided to put her own spin on this Mexican classic – she ordered prawns instead of chicken. And she “LOVED IT!” She wanted something on the healthy side – light and crunchy, but still satisfying. The rice and beans were cooked with red, green and yellow peppers, which she didn’t expect. “I was happily surprised to find a mini-meal within my meal,” she says. There were plenty of prawns, which were served in a fried tortilla bowl with lettuce and guacamole. Final words? “While $14.95 exceeds my normal dollar per calorie ratio, it was so good I’ll be back again.”

Chicken Tortilla Soup (bowl), $7.50

Luncher: Leah B.

Thoughts: Her first word: spicy! After that poured a string of positive verbiage: delicious, sweet, thick. Though it was different from what she expected, it was a good different. She thought it was going to be more brothy, but instead it was more chowdery and had a lot of corn in it. She would definitely order it again. She was so full from the Tostada de Ceviche that she couldn’t finish it, but will take it home for dinner.

Tostada de Ceviche: Ceviche tostada with snapper, lime, jalapeno, tomatoes served on crispy mini flat corn tortilla with lettuce and avocado, (half) $6.95

Luncher: Leah B.

Thoughts: “De-freakin’-licious.” Leah ordered the half order and that was plenty. It was a beautiful, tangy, refreshing salad with half an avocado and compote on top. The fish was excellent. It was a “perfect lunch item,” she says. Not only would she order it again, she thinks she might order it again next week!

Taquitos: Your choice of shredded beef or chicken, served with guacamole, sour cream and pico de gallo, $10.95

Luncher: Sophie S.

Thoughts: The combination of crunchy fried corn tortillas and soft shredded chicken was delicious – especially when each bite was dragged through heaping globs of guacamole and sour cream. At first, I thought the bed of shredded lettuce on the bottom was just an aesthetic addition. But after I inhaled the taquitos, I mixed the lettuce with the remaining guacamole and sour cream and voila! A salad! I ate that, too. We were given a large brown bag of corn tortilla chips, which were cold, but still good.

Almond Crusted Tilapia Tacos: Two corn tortillas filled with almond crusted tilapia and mango salsa. Served with black beans and Mexican rice, $12.95

Luncher: Veronica S.

Thoughts: Veronica liked the almond crusted tilapia – “it was a fun departure from the norm of fish tacos.” Her only complaint was that there wasn’t any sauce – perhaps it had already soaked through the tortilla, but she wanted more! Next time she would order sauce on the side (and no onions, but that’s more of a personal preference).

Blackened Salmon Tacos: Two corn tortillas filled with blackened salmon and black beans and corn salsa and stopped with cilantro cream. Served with Mexican rice, $12.95

Luncher: Michele J., Calin V.P.

Thoughts: Michele would have liked more salmon, but said it was tasy nonetheless. There were plenty of black beans, corn salsa and cilantro cream to make up for it. On the contrary, Calin thought it was delicious – she would know, being a self-proclaimed fish taco expert, after all. She ordered it without the cilantro sauce and thought the salmon was well-seasoned.

Tacos: Two soft or crispy corn taco shells with shredded lettuce and your choice of filling, served with pico de gallo, rice and refried beans, $8.95

Luncher: Alex F.

Thoughts: Alex enjoyed the soft tacos, which she says were “delicious and light without the heavy feeling that accompanies most Mexican fare.” The sauce was a mixture of pico de gallo and green salsa. She initially intended to save half for dinner, but she’d eaten it all before she could do that. “I’d order from Saylor’s again for sure,” she says.

2009 Bridgeway

Sausalito, CA 94965

415.332.1512

saylorsrestaurantandbar.com