Comal

The walk to get here is half the experience: you swing past lounge chairs and an oceanfront walkway before landing at this open-air contemporary Mexican restaurant inside the Chileno Bay Resort. The kitchen ranges across Mexico's regional traditions with some South American pull, so the menu has range without feeling scattered. A ceviche riff with octopus, pork belly, and plantain tortillas gives you a sense of how it thinks.

Three honors, in evidence: