A white-stucco corner off Avenida Del Mar with a tequila list that runs from an honest margarita all the way up to a shot that costs more than a car payment.
South of Nick's opened in 2012 and has anchored the top of Avenida Del Mar ever since, a few blocks uphill from the San Clemente pier. It lives in one of those handsome Spanish buildings with the red-tile roof and beamed ceilings, the kind of room that makes a Tuesday feel like a small occasion. This is a Nick's Restaurants project, so it is polished.
The kitchen does modern Mexican with a Southern California accent and is not shy about steak and seafood. The filet mignon taquitos are the thing regulars order without looking at the menu. The carnitas come crisp at the edges the way carnitas are supposed to. Everything is a little more composed than a taco stand, which is the whole idea.
The tequila list runs from an honest margarita all the way to a pour that costs more than a car payment.
The tequila list is long and good, and somewhere near the bottom sits a Patron en Lalique pour that runs about four hundred and fifty dollars a shot, which is a wonderful thing to point at, photograph, and absolutely not order. Get a well-made margarita instead.
This is a grown-up dinner in a beach town, not a quick burrito. Come at golden hour and sit near the open windows.
The details
- Where
- 110 N El Camino Real, San Clemente
- Kitchen
- Modern Mexican kitchen and bar
- Website
- nicksrestaurants.com
- Go for
- Filet mignon taquitos, carnitas, a margarita
Sources and further reading: Nick's Restaurants. Photography by Tide & Canyon.
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