Move over, soup dumplings and dragon rolls — NYC’s buzziest in-demand new dishes are pork belly chicharron and tacos callejeros. After long playing backup to the city’s Asian offerings, Mexico’s culinary bounty is having a moment — and on a grander stage than the cuisine has enjoyed in some time.
While we’ve long had an array of taco joints, margarita mills and Tex-Mex eateries, there’s a new wave of chic, supersized Mexican restaurants with the style and vibe Asian eateries — such as Hutong, Nobu and Tao — have long offered.
The Quality Branded group — known for thoughtfully conceived, Instagram-ready concepts such as Quality Meats, Twin Tails, Zou Zou’s and Bad Roman — has opened its first Mexican restaurant in Limusina (491 Ninth Ave., Midtown South), near Penn Station.
Company president Michael Stillman, who’s loved the cuisine all his life, said many regional-focused Mexican spots that critics love are minimalist, hard-edged rooms that lack the “majesty and fun” of colossal, inventively-designed venues. He’s right: It’s been a long while since we saw anything on the scale of El Vez in Battery Park City and the original Dos Caminos on Park Avenue South.
Designed by GRT Architects, the three-level, 5,000 square-foot Limusina boasts all the Quality Branded hallmarks — a high-energy scene, soaring ceilings, giant chandeliers and an eye-popping color scheme. Well-spaced tables and booths plush fabrics keep noise levels at bay.
The bar spins new riffs on traditional favorites, e.g., a “frozen Vampiro” ($18) that blends tequila, grapefruit and pomegranate sangria. But people — including New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart, whom our NFL-mad spies caught wolfing down quesabirria and lobster al pastor — come mainly for the food.
Chef Craig Koketsu respects Mexican regional styles without over-emphasizing them. His long menu encourages big spending and sharing, meandering through machetes (playfully long, narrow quesadillas, $22 to $26), ceviches and raw bar items ($22 to $165), antojitos ($22 to $28), and larger dishes. The must-order in the latter category is an awesome whole red snapper ($95) that boasts a thick, crunchy, slightly sweet crust — as if General Tso took a much needed vacation to Baja.
The fish — and other main dishes, such as long-bone, short rib quesabirria ($75) — come with delightfully small tortillas for assembling your own tacos without filling up too quickly.
With the quesabirria, things are taken up a notch when servers pour melted queso over the meat tableside.
The kitchen is assured enough to not beholden to notions of authenticity. There menu even includes Tex Mex queso ($17) made with “straight up” rotel, but it’s executed far better than the usual slop-house chip dip.
The party spirit also fires at Cuerno (1271 Sixth Ave. at 50th St., Midtown), the first US location of a Mexican steakhouse empire with 50 locations in Mexico and Spain.
Office workers expecting the same-old, same-old after-work beef drizzled with a Mexican spice or two are delighted to discover a thrilling menu of Northern Mexican fare instead — served in spacious rooms with hand-carved woodwork and custom leather banquettes.
USDA prime beef — sourced from a South Dakota ranch and aged in-house for 21 days — boasts a deep flavor. Most cuts are grilled in high-temperature Josper charcoal ovens that yield thickly caramelized crusts that seal in moisture.
For me, the show-stopper wasn’t a steak but rather the most delectable, easy-on-the-tongue short rib I’ve ever had — a 28-ounce, tamarind-glazed, 12-hour slow-roasted number worth every cent of $78.
It might seem strange to single out octopus at a steakhouse, but pulpo a las brasas ($51 for an 8-ounce, whole specimen that easily feeds two) is another not-to-miss dish.
Chef Oriol Mendivil tenderizes the cephalopod, sourced from the waters of the Yucatan, with a sea-salt massage and steams it to preserve the flavor. It’s grilled and finished with chipotle salsa. The result is the most impossibly tender, delicious octopus I’ve ever had.
The fun continues at the new Rosa Mexicano.
The restaurant has been a favorite of New Yorkers since the 1980s, but the growing brand never had a venue as large or ambitious as the just-opened one in the Empire Hotel (44 W. 63rd St., Upper West Side).
More than 400 seats are spread over an airy, colorful village-like cluster of a half-dozen rooms and alcoves that obscure how huge the place is.
Traditional favorites — such as sizzling Molcajete fajitas ($32 to $42) in cast-iron skillets, hand-rolled enchiladas ($24 to $41) and tableside guacamole ($19) — are prepared with unusual skill.
The signature Mexican fried rice ($16) — an Asian-Mexican hybrid made with chorizo, bacon, corn, black beans and topped with a fried egg and sparkled with chile de arbol mayo — blows typical Chinese versions out of the water.
Rosa isn’t as elaborately designed nor as culinarily adventurous as Limusina and Cuerno, but it’s still a great time with wonderful food and hospitality. Ole!
Source link
#NYC #suddenly #huge #great #Mexican #restaurants