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F or the last two decades, the Ortega family has educated Houston diners about the depth and breadth of Mexican cuisine. Now they're taking us back in time to the early 1500s, when Spanish colonists made their way to Baja California before heading north to colonize what was known for centuries as Alta California. At the family's newest eatery, Zaranda, James Beard Award-winning chef Hugo Ortega and his brother, pastry chef Ruben Ortega (Hugo's, Caracol, Xochi, Urbe) conjure a cuisine inspired by the foodstuffs grown and raised on this swath of verdant land, from present-day Northern California to Cabo San Lucas. The region is an agricultural bounty, from fennel, artichokes, olives, eggplant, lettuces, and nuts to rich wine- growing regions, livestock raised on rambling ranches, and pristine waters to the south rife with seafood. All these things inspire Zaranda's menu, which explores the cuisine of Las Californias. "Early on," Hugo says, "we decided that the cuisine would not be a fusion of Mexican and Californian cuisines, By Laurann Claridge. Photography Paula Murphy. Zaranda's downstairs-level dining room, designed by Christina Wilburn of Gin Design Group. Cazuela de Bivalves at Zaranda. but our conceptualization of what it might have looked like if those two halves had stayed as one." Situated downtown, steps away from Discovery Green on the ground floor of the 28-story Norton Rose Fulbright Tower, Hugo and his wife, Tracy Vaught, lured their longtime H Town Restaurant Group collaborators/chefs Adrian Caballero and Paula Gutierrez to helm the kitchen. The 7,000-square-foot, two- story space was designed by Christina Wilburn of Gin Design Group. The interiors channel the warmth of Baja with wide-plank oak flooring and sculpted wood baffles that echo the movement of gentle ocean waves. Custom touches include a hand-finished mural of the Pacific coastline and banquettes upholstered in sun-washed terracotta and azure-blue hues. Zaranda is named after the traditional wire basket used to cook seafood over a live fire — a 500-year-old technique that remains popular in Baja. Not surprisingly, the zarandeado technique plays a starring role on the menu. During my visit, the daily catch was branzino — butterflied, seared, and napped in an adobo zarandeado made with guajillo pepper, costeño Amarillo peppers, chile de árbol, and roasted red bell peppers (market price). Other alluring seafood options cooked in the zarandeado technique include whole octopus marinated in a red-herb oil ($38), butterflied lobster (market price), and grilled shrimp ($39). Zaranda also features menu items — many meant to be shared — inspired by dishes the Ortegas have sampled throughout the region, from paella-like arroces to Del Rancho, premium cuts of beef and lamb, either grilled or slow- cooked and topped with a dollop of bone-marrow butter ($32 – $125). The ensalada Caesar was inspired by one of Mexico's most famous experts — legend says it was created on the fly with scarce ingredients that Italian-American restaurateur Caesar Cardini had on hand in his Tijuana eatery. Here, it's replicated Another Feather in Their Toque: The Ortega Family Opens Zaranda 52