La Mision Dragon

La Mision Dragon is the best known of the Chinese restaurants of Mexicali, the capital of Baja California, and the one visitors are most often directed to when they ask why a desert city on the Arizona-California border has more Chinese restaurants per head than anywhere else in Mexico. The answer lies in the early twentieth century, when Cantonese labourers were brought in to dig the irrigation canals that made the Mexicali valley farmable; many stayed, and their descendants built a food culture that adapted Cantonese technique to northern Mexican beef, wheat tortillas and chillies. The restaurant occupies a large pagoda-styled building on Boulevard Benito Juarez with tiled roofs, ornamental gardens, ponds and lanterns, a scale that makes it as much a landmark as a dining room. Inside, the space is divided into several halls used for family gatherings, business lunches and celebrations, with round tables and lazy susans in the larger rooms. The cooking is Cantonese-Mexican rather than either tradition on its own. Chow mein estilo Mexicali, heavier and beefier than its southern Chinese ancestor, is the plate the city is known for; alongside it come sweet and sour pork, wonton soup, steamed and fried fish, beef with broccoli cooked with a local chilli edge, and combination plates sized for sharing. Portions are large, prices are moderate at around 150 to 350 pesos per dish, and most tables order several plates to the centre. The atmosphere is bright, busy and family-driven, particularly at Sunday lunch, with a noise level to match; dress is casual and no dress code applies. Drinks run to beer, soft drinks and tea rather than a serious wine list. Service is daily from midday to 10PM. Reservations are worth making for weekend lunches and for groups, when the halls fill with birthday and family parties, but midweek walk-ins are seated without difficulty. Summer temperatures in Mexicali routinely exceed 40 degrees Celsius, so the air-conditioned halls are a genuine refuge.