RESTAURANT REVIEW:

With the sun a little brighter and the days getting longer, this is the time of year I start to get that itch to travel south of the border and explore Baja. My usual form of travel is my Harley Davidson motorcycle.

Hopping on Liberdad (the Spanish word for “liberty” and the name I gave my bike when I bought it five years ago), there is nothing more peaceful than taking the toll road outside of Tijuana, going through Rosarito and stopping at Puerto Nuevo for lunch. The lobster there is a favorite of mine and well worth the nearly three-hour drive. I spend the days eating spiny lobster and practicing my Spanish with the waitress.

My life usually isn’t gripped by fear, but the recent troubles in Tijuana and Baja have given me pause on any immediate excursions there, despite how tempting the food.

In an attempt to find that experience locally, I traveled far less south, down Pacific Coast Highway and found Fred’s Mexican Café and Cantina.

When my friends, who have also traveled extensively through the Baja region, climbed the stairs the first impression we got was the recreation of an Ensenada cantina.

The colors are bright and the staff even brighter. We were met with a friendly hello and seated at a table near the far window so we could see the sun setting near the Huntington Beach pier.

Our waitress, Tatum, was not only personable, but extremely knowledgeable about the menu, and of course I engaged her in a little game of stump the waitress. I asked her at least 10 questions about the menu, and she knew the answer to all but one and found out the last one while she was getting our drink order.

The restaurant has a full bar and serves several specialty margaritas, including the Cadillac, made with a choice of many different brands of tequila. The Coco Rita, with Margaritaville coconut and Amaretto, was a new one to me. I took a chance and got the Patron Rita, which has Patron Silver and Citronge, and it is a nice mix.

The margarita certainly went well with my appetizer, a creation that looks like a Mexican crab cake, though made with chicken, and is called a “Chingadera” (which is vulgar Spanish for “thing”). It’s a mashup of flour tortilla, chicken, cheese and rice, fried and served with pico de gallo and Acapulco dressing (ranch and avocado) and Mexican slaw. It’s a fairly new creation from the kitchen of Saul Sanchez, the restaurant’s head chef.

Fred’s offers traditional Mexican entrees like cheese enchiladas and carnitas, but I wanted to try something a bit more adventurous on the menu.

The chicken Monterey looked appealing: two chicken breasts topped with a creamy suiza (white sauce) and cheese. Another enticement is the slipper lobster that is rolled in a seasoned flour and then flash fried.

I settled on the mahi mahi burrito. The fish is marinated and blackened and then stuffed in a flour tortilla that also has cabbage, tomatillo, beans, rice, pico de gallo and is topped with ranchero sauce and melted cheese. It was gigantic and I ended up taking half of it home. The restaurant claims it weighs more than a pound and I thought this was the first time a business had actually underexaggerated a product.

My one friend had the carnitas and was impressed with the quality and freshness of the pork. It was tender and moist, and the marinade did not overwhelm the meat.

My other friend had one of Fred’s seven combinations, none of which are more than $11 and are packed with food. He got the Three Amigos — three tacos, one chicken, one steak and one mahi mahi — and enjoyed all three.

Though we were stuffed, Tatum talked us into the restaurant’s lone dessert, the chocolate diablo. And while I am glad she did, I was cursing her name when I spent an extra 20 minutes on the treadmill in a vain attempt to work off the calories.

It is an incredible dish, with a chocolate mousse-filled brownie and topped with whipped cream. It was the perfect way to end the meal, which was both extremely affordable and enjoyable.

Address: 300 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach

Phone: (714) 374-8226

Cuisine: Mexican

Specialty dish: Sizzling fajitas

Alcohol served: Full bar

Dress: Casual

Family friendly: Yes

Credit cards accepted: Visa, MasterCard and American Express

Rating: ***

JOHN REGER reviews local restaurants for the Independent.