Flor de Oaxaca

In a region where some restaurants are great, others are okay, and still others are bad, simply being good isn’t easy, and it’s much better than being forgettable or terrible. That’s the story with Flor de Oaxaca in Santa Ana: It’s a Mexican restaurant serving Oaxacan specialties that tend to taste good, balancing initially appealing pricing with relatively small portions, then doing the bare minimum when plating.

One of the big draws for us was the opportunity to order chapulines (traditionally prepared grasshoppers), which when used effectively (as at Oyamel) can become the core protein in surprisingly incredible tacos. Here, they’re on the menu as an appetizer and arrive in a bowl with a spoon, which is definitely the least interesting way we’ve ever seen them offered for consumption in a restaurant – more like the way they’re sold in mercados. We technically got what we ordered, but like other dishes, less than we hoped for. Look deeper on the menu and you’ll find that they can also be had mixed into guacamole, inside quesadillas, or on top of tlayudas, any of which would be a better idea than ordering the standard appetizer.