Javelina

Tex–Mex cuisine has always had a lowbrow reputation outside of its home territory, much as barbecue did a generation ago. You could visit these places for fun and sustenance, but the cooking was never taken seriously.

Javelina aims to change that. It’s the first local Tex–Mex joint I can remember where you actually knew the name of the chef: Richard Caruso, who’s been at Rosa Mexicano and Hill Country. Pat LaFrieda is on hand to supply the beef for all those tacos and enchiladas; or, if you prefer to have your beef naked, there’s a 28-day dry-aged cowboy steak for $38.

As the modern trend requires, there’s a large-format dish, the Parrilladas Mixtas, essentially the fajita platter of the gods, with six proteins (lobster extra) and abundant side dishes, costing $65 for two or $125 for four. But most of the food clocks in at much lower prices. No other item on the two-page menu is more than $25, and portions are generous.

The restaurant is named for a kind of wild pig that roams the wilds of Texas. A stuffed specimen is on display above the bar, and you can see from its sharp teeth that this isn’t an animal to be toyed with.

They take reservations, and you might need one. On a Wednesday evening, there was no chance of getting seated before our 7:45 booking, and the bar was packed too. We cooled our heels at the quiet Italian trattoria next door: Javelina might be the best thing that’s happened to them in years. On a recent evening, Eater’s Ryan Sutton waited 90 minutes for bar seats, got nothing, and gave up.

Once you get in, the sound level is punishing: those brick walls and hard surfaces turn the dining room into an echo chamber. Is it worth the trouble? Not as far as we could tell. We found the food like most of the city’s Tex–Mex: acceptable for what it is, but not worthy of the destination status that diners are conferring on Javelina in its early days.

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The Black Ant

The Village Voice wrote recently of a “Mexican Food Moment” in New York City, including The Black Ant (La Hormiga Negra), a new restaurant in the East Village from the same folks behind Ofrenda across town.

It certainly does seem that there are a lot of new Mexican restaurants lately—and not merely the cookie-cutter TexMex kind that serve standard-issue burritos, enchiladas, chimichangas, and the like. For a while, it seemed like every other chef was opening a gourmet taco joint.

The focus here is inventive dishes inspired by chef Mario Hernandez’s native Oaxaca. The website declares on its landing page, Cocina de Autor—referring to the chef as “author” of a cuisine—which would sound pompous if written in English, but seems to describe this restaurant exactly.

True to the name, there are a number of dishes with dehydrated edible insects shipped from Mexico: a guacamole made with ant salt; a tortilla topped with fried grasshoppers; a side order of crickets. Ant salt even appears in several of the cocktails. Several bloggers have reviewed and photographed these items (here, here, here). We weren’t about to go near them.

Fortunately, if you’re insect-averse, there’s plenty to enjoy. There’s a variety of smaller plates in various categories that serve as appetizers ($8–14), entrées ($22–27) and sides ($6), most not exactly resembling anything I’ve ever sampled in a Mexican restaurant.

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Mission Cantina

What is it about tacos that attracts chefs not previously known for them?

Alex Stupak (a former pastry chef) opened Empellón Taqueria two years ago. Then, British chef April Bloomfield opened Salvation Taco, and French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten opened ABC Cocina.

Now Danny Bowien, a Korean-born chef raised in Oklahoma, best known for his Mission Chinese restaurants, has gotten into the act with Mission Cantina.

It’s a cantina in name only: a hip, divey-looking place on a busy street corner, where the Mexican tradition is very loosely re-interpreted for the Lower East Side. The “Mission” DNA is very much in evidence, from the minimalist décor to the tiny space where reservations aren’t taken.

The sizable kitchen on two levels is a formidable operation. Bowien, as he does at nearby Mission Chinese, sources his ingredients with some care. The quirky menu is uniquely his own, and will be found nowhere else. It’s fairly inexpensive, with appetizers $8.50–13, individual tacos $4–5, and side dishes $6–8. A whole chicken or a rack of lamb ribs is $35, but you need a posse to share them. The individual tacos are quite hearty: two of them plus an appetizer is ample, though you could order three if you’re really hungry.

Unfortunately, what could be a very good restaurant is scuppered by the service. The kitchen sends out a bowl of fried peanuts in chili sauce (above left), but then your entire order comes out practically at once: the appetizer and both tacos. Either it’s a cynical table-turning strategy, or the kitchen just can’t space out an order. (Mission Chinese is just as crowded, but didn’t seem as rushed when I tried it.)

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Móle

The successful Móle Mexican restaurant family now has its fourth and most ambitious sibling, with a lavish new space on the Upper East Side.

The chef (Guadalupe Elizalde) and her husband (Nick Cervera) have built this little empire over a period of twenty years, starting with the humble Taco Taco, which opened in 1992. The first Móle (in the West Village) came in 2007, followed by branches on the Lower East Side, in Williamsburg, and now the new Móle across the street from the place that started it all, Taco Taco, which has since closed.

I visited with my family on my own dime a couple of months ago (although the owner knew who I was, and gave us the best table in the house), and again later on, at a dinner hosted by the publicist. This review is based on a composite of the two visits. Prices shown are from the regular menu.

There’s a broad selection of Mexican classics: nachos, guacamole, enchiladas, tostadas, tacos, burritos, chimichangas, quesadillas, and so forth. You can eat heartily and inexpensively, as almost every entrée is $22 or less.

The two owners now have four kitchens and four dining rooms to look after, and quality sometimes suffers. Two dishes were common to both visits. One was better the first time; the other was better the second. Appetizers generally fared better than entrées.

The food menu runs to five pages, which is probably too long. It’s hard to make so many things consistently well, especially when the chef can’t be in four kitchens at once.

None of the four Móles has had a professional review that I can find, but on various websites there are multiple reports of poor service, which I clearly cannot judge, as I was known to the house both times I visited. (Móle’s Zagat service rating is just 18, which is not a great score.)

 

Fresh Guacamole ($10 small; $15 large) is made tableside, although we saw this bit of theater only on our first visit. You’ll be asked if you want mild, medium, or spicy. We asked for medium both times, but on the second visit it didn’t have much “pop” at all.

  

Sopa de Tortilla ($8; above left) was one of the best dishes on either visit. It’s an intensely spicy tomato soup with strips of crisp blue corn tortilla, cheese, sour cream and onions.

Huitlacoche is a black fungus that grows on corn: the word is derived from cuitla, which means “excrement” or “rear end.” Anyhow, it features prominently in Mexican cuisine, though most American restaurants don’t serve it, as it looks gross. At Móle, they serve it wrapped in crepes ($12; above center) slathered in a creamy poblano sauce, so that the diner doesn’t actually see that the corn is black. (See Wikipedia for examples of other preparations, the likes of which I haven’t seen outside of Mexico.)

Tostada de Tinga ($10; above right) is a flat tortilla with bean spread, spicy shredded pork and onions, topped with lettuce, sour cream, and cheese.

 

Neither of two entrées impressed us. Perhaps the chef erred by sending out two items that were so similar. Pescado a la Veracruzana ($22; above left) is flounder with tomato, onion, olives, capers and shrimp; Bisteck a la Mexicana ($21; above right) is skirt steak with tomato, onion, jalapeño and cilantro. In both, the saucing and accoutrements were too heavy-handed, and we got very little flavor from the flounder or the steak.

 

Móle poblano is a complex sauce with about 20 ingredients, including chili peppers and chocolate. The restaurant serves it on two dishes, the Enchiladas de Mole Poblano ($22; above) and the Chicken en Mole Poblano ($22), which we didn’t have the chance to try.

The owner says that the sauce, which isn’t easy to make well, comes from the chef’s mother, who ships it to New York from Mexico. The first time we had it, the taste of chocolate was overwhelming. The second time, the flavors were in better balance. (The right-hand photo is a good illustration of typical portion sizes, as opposed to the tasting portions in most of the photos.)

  

It’s truly a family affair at Móle, as the chef’s sister is responsible for desserts. We loved the Pastel Tres Leches (above middle), a white cake drenched in three kinds of cream. The Belgian chocolate cake (above right) was also quite good. A crème caramel flan (above left) was fine, but you’ll find better examples elsewhere in town.

At the bar, there are around 100 tequilas and mezcales. Most are $14 or less and suitable for pairing with dinner. There’s also a pretty good cocktail list, including the ridiculous “Sex in a Mexican Prison” (tequila, cranberry juice, lime). What the ingredients have to do with the name is beyond me, but I ordered and enjoyed it, which I suppose is the point.

I haven’t been to the other Móles, but I believe this is the largest and most lavish of the quartet, although no one would call it fancy. The dining room seats 75, with an additional 20 outdoors in good weather. It was doing brisk business both times I visited—once on a weekday, the other on a Saturday.

The kitchen swings and misses at times, but you can put together a solid, inexpensive, and enjoyable meal here.

Móle (1735 Second Avenue between 89th & 90th Streets, Upper East Side)

Empellón Cocina

Empellón Taqueria had a rocky start when it opened a year ago. The Mexican taco joint from Alex Stupak, the former WD~50 pastry chef, got mixed reviews. I found the food underwhelming and the dining room far too loud.

The chef later added sound-proofing, adjusted prices, and broadened the menu beyond tacos. I haven’t been back, but reports I trust suggest that the place is far more enjoyable now than I found it.

Meantime, Stupak has opened a companion restaurant across town, Empellón Cocina, which will offer a more serious, less taco-centric take on Mexican cuisine. The new dining room, while stylistically similar, is just slightly more upscale than the taqueria. There are some odd stylistic choices amidst the minimalist décor: why a crucifix in one corner and a devil statue in the other?

This time, the sound-proofing was installed from the get-go, with fabric walls taking the place of brick in the original joint. Our reservation was early, but the place was full by the time we left, so this was a good test: the sound-proofing works! It’s not a tomb, but you can carry on a conversation.

I’m usually a bit skeptical of Valentine’s Day tasting menus, which often mass-produce a restaurant’s least-interesting food at a hefty premium over the usual price. But at Empellón Cocina, in its first full week of service, I figured I’d get a pretty good sample of the food Stupak will be serving à la carte, and the price was reasonable: $90 for nine courses.

I am running a bit short on time, so I have reproduced the description of the dishes from the hand-out menu, along with my light comments.

The first three dishes were excellent, with strong flavors and a great balance of flavors:

1. Peeky Toe Crab (above left) with Parsnip Juice, Crab Flan and Smoked Cashew Salsa

2. Dry Aged NY Strip Steak (above right) with Crema Parfait, Black Beans and Salsa Roja

3. Melted Tetilla Cheese (above left) with Lobster, Tomate Frito and Kol (Yucatan-style white sauce)

4. Tortilla Soup (above right)

The Melted Cheese with Lobster could become Stupak’s signature dish: it’s excellent. But the tortilla soup was somewhat forgettable.

5. Scallop (above left) with Gachas de Arroz, Plantains and Chilpachole (shellfish broth, epazote, chipotle).

6. Pork Ribs with White Beans Masa Balls, and Green Mole (tomatillo, serrano chile, herbs).

“Did the first chef go home?” That’s what we wanted to know, as the meal fell off a cliff. The poor, delicate scallop was drowned in an unpleasant pool of tomatoey broth; the ribs, served off the bone, were too dry, and served with a humdrum mole.

Stupak is a pastry chef by trade, so you would expect the desserts to be strong—and they were:

7. Rose Meringe (above left) with Cherry Sorbet and Hibscus Yogurt

8. Bonus course (above center); I believe Arroz con Leche, the best of the three

9. Chocolate Cake (above right) with Pineapple and Vanilla Cream

I didn’t take note of the wine that we ordered, but cocktails before dinner were mediocre. My girlfriend asked for something similar to a Cosmopolitan (they couldn’t make one exactly, as they lacked cranberry juice), and got its diametric opposite. Another that I ordered off the menu tasted mostly of tonic water. But the bar staff seemed new and will undoubtedly improve; to their credit, they took the non-Cosmo off the bill.

Servers were well versed on the menu, and the food came out at a reasonable pace—neither too fast nor too slow. Of course, the kitchen’s task is easier when they know every diner will have exactly the same things, in exactly the same order. That’s one of the reasons why restaurants limit your choices on Valentine’s Day.

If Stupak’s track record at Empellón Taqueria is any guide, Empellón Cocina will get better over time. On a Valentine’s Day tasting menu, one week in, he batted .500 on the savory courses and 1.000 on the desserts. That is a pretty good start.

Empellón Cocina (105 First Avenue between E. 6th & E. 7th Streets, East Village)

Food: *½
Service: *½
Ambiance: *½
Overall: *½

The Chef’s Table at Hecho en Dumbo

 

Hecho en Dumbo, literally “Made in Dumbo,” opened on the buzzing Bowery in early 2010. Once upon a time, it was a Mexican pop-up in DUMBO, till they found permanent digs.

The bare-bones dining room looks like it came right out of Brooklyn. Loud, bustling and crowded, with no customers within a decade of my age, reservations not taken. You probably wouldn’t find me there, which is no knock on what they are doing. It’s just not my kind of joint.

Earlier this year, they launched a chef’s tasting menu at a bright, blond wood counter that looks out over the open kitchen (hat tip: Eater.com). You sit on a metal stool that isn’t very comfortable, but service is attentive, the show is worth watching, and it’s comparatively quiet.

There are about 10 seats. We had the place to ourselves when we arrived at about 6:30 p.m. A couple of other parties had arrived by the time we left, 2½ hours later. Reservations are accepted for parties of 1 or 2, and there is a fairly stern warning that cancellations aren’t accepted after 5:00 p.m. the day before.

The menu is nominally five courses, but we were served ten, including various amuses and at least two comps. But even the normal menu is a remarkably good deal at $55. The care and quality of the preparation is apparent, although at that price they are not serving luxury ingredients.

Various websites mention a wine pairing option, but that has been discontinued: we had cocktails and wines by the glass (there is also a beer selection).

I didn’t take notes and forgot to take a copy of the menu with me, so I present the photos after the jump with light comments, and in some cases none at all. Take my word for it: this deal is worth your while.

The Chef’s Table at Hecho en Dumbo (354 Bowery between Great Jones and E. 4th Streets, East Village)

Food: **
Service: **
Ambiance: **
Overall: **

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Empellón

Allow me to set the scene. We’re eavesdroppers Chez Stupak. Alex worked formerly as pastry chef at Alinea, which was on its way to three Michelin stars, being named the #6 restaurant in the world (and #1 in the U.S.), and best Chicago restaurant ever. It hadn’t quite reached those accolades when Alex was there, but it was on the way.

Then Alex moved to WD~50, with another Michelin star, where he was acclaimed as a pastry genius fully worthy of accompanying chef Wylie Dufresne’s wacky but adorable cuisine with three New York Times stars.

We’re eavesdropping Chez Supak, as I say, and Alex says to his wife, Lauren Resler (herself a pastry chef, albeit not as well known), “Let’s open a taco place.” And you want to blow your cover, jump into the scene, and ask the Stupaks, “Srsly? What the Sam Hill are you doing?”

I do realize that investors might have doubts about savory dishes coming from a former pastry chef, especially after Sam Mason (another former WD~50 pastry chef) flamed out spectacularly at Tailor (a restaurant I liked, but not enough people did). As Stupak told Serious Eats:

“My resume really hurt me here,” he says; “People expected me to open a pastry restaurant, but the problem is, once people pigeonhole you, your creativity is severely restricted. People come for my pastry and expect certain things—like you’d expect pasta on an Italian menu—but with Mexican food, they have no expectations. I’m opening a Mexican restaurant because it’s the food I love to eat, and that’s it.”

But still. Why Mexican, and why tacos?

Fast forward about 18 months, and the idea has reached fruition at Empellón, a smallish West Village place at one of the city’s few intersections of two numbered streets, W. 4th and W. 10th.

The space is non-descript and sparsely decorated. Had Stupak chosen Portuguese cuisine, rather than Mexican, the same décor would have worked. The hard surfaces amplify noise, and the tables are close together.

“You’re not saying anything,” my companion observed.

“I’m just out of patience for shouting,” I replied. That was with the dining room doing brisk business on a Saturday evening, but not full by any means. Reservations have not been tough to come by.

Perhaps Stupak is finding that there aren’t enough folks who’ll pay $17 for three small tacos. The server recited a list of proper entrées: it sounded like there were at least four of them, but they went by too quickly. She implied that they’ll soon be on the printed menu, perhaps pushing the tacos to sharable appetizer status. Looks like a smart move.

The current list of appetizers (there are just a few) isn’t expensive, at $10–11 each, but those seeking a more substantial meal may, for now, be disappointed that the menu ends at tacos.

Meatballs ($10; above left) ride atop a crisp biscuit, with roasted tomato, chorizo, and chipotle. They’re a bit unexciting. Cheddar ($11; above right) comes in a sizzling skillet with bacon and huazontles (a Mexican herb), with warm tortillas on the side. We loved this dish and wished it were larger.

There are eight taco dishes, of which we tried two, both $17: Lamb Barbacoa (above left) and Shrimp (above right). Each was hearty and rich, but the shrimp, the spicier of the two, is the one I would order again.

Service is efficient, knowledgeable, and friendly. And to my delight, the restaurant takes reservations, unusual these days at a place this casual. Had it been strictly for walk-ins, I doubt Empellón would have had my business on a Saturday evening when I was coming from uptown, and wanted to know I had a place to eat.

Although we enjoyed our meal, the food strikes me as a work in progress. Empellón will be a much more compelling restaurant when regular entrées make it onto the menu, as they surely will.

Empellón (230 W. 4th Street at W. 10th Street, West Village)

Food: *
Service: *
Ambiance: *
Overall: *

First Look: Teqa

Teqa is a new tacos-and-tequila place on the western edge of Kips Bay. Someone with talent is doing their P.R., as the restaurant managed the rare feat of getting the chef’s photo into Florence Fabricant’s weekly New York Times column, Off the Menu.

That chef is Lisa Schoen, who has worked as a Food Network stylist and as the private chef for Saturday Night Live, the Rosie O’Donnell Show, and for New York Yankees star Derek Jeter. She also appeared on the Food Network competition show Chopped. This is her first restaurant, as far as I can tell.

The owner is Derek Axelrod, who has worked as head of product placement for his family’s company, French Connection apparel. The website says that he “built a number of restaurants,” without naming them. The site is not shy about getting to the point: if Teqa succeeds, it will be “expanded to other locations,” that is, cloned.

The dining room is attractive, with dark wood tables, dim lighting, and a spacious bar with 100 tequilas on display. (The illustration, above left, is a concept rendering from the website; the actual space looks a bit different.) Mercifully, the sound track is quiet enough to allow a conversation without having to yell.

I don’t usually visit restaurants on the first night of service, as I’d rather give them time to work out the kinks. But I had a craving for this type of food, and I figured that tacos and guacamole were fairly low-risk bets. There were minor service glitches that I won’t even bother to mention. Teqa was running well, for an opening night.

An initial reaction is that such a nice space could offer more than just appetizers, tacos, salads, and sandwiches. Not that there’s anything wrong with the food I sampled, which was very good for the price, but I think a broader menu would work well here.

Another reaction is that the kitchen can afford to amp up the heat. Two kinds of “Guac & Chips” ($11) are offered: “Mellow or MEGA-WATT.” I ordered the latter, which I found pleasantly spicy. But those who expect a three-alarm fire from the words “mega-watt” might be a bit disappointed.

I had the same issue with a Spicy Cucumber Margarita ($11), which didn’t live up to its billing. When I pointed this out, the bartender made an extra-spicy version of their oddly named “Tommy’s Margarita” ($9), which was much more like it. I am not really sure what accounts for the $2 price difference between the two.

A side order of fries (sent out as a comp; normally $8) was an unexpected delight. They had all the heat that was missing from the other dishes. A visit for the fries alone would be well worth it.

There are eight kinds of tacos, served on house-made soft tortillas (except for the so-called “Old School,” which comes in a hard shell). They cost $13 for three, but you can’t mix and match. I had the Guiness Braised Short Rib tacos, with roasted corn, frizzled leeks, Cojita cheese, and an unspecified “Teqa sauce.” It’s an excellent creation, but in keeping with the evening’s theme, a shade under-seasoned.

I’ll emphasize again that it was the first night of service, and seasoning could very well be adjusted in the coming weeks as the kitchen gets into its routine.

As of today, the front page of the website is a blog entry showing photos of all the celebrities that attended the restaurant’s opening party. That’s the wrong strategy. Diners who chase celebrities have the attention span of a flea: it won’t be long before they move to the Next Big Thing. Long-term success depends on attracting customers who care about the food, not those who care about the Big Names who supposedly have dined there.

On this showing, the food at Teqa is worth showcasing. For someone who hasn’t run a restaurant before, Chef Schoen seems to have her act together. If you’re in the Murray Hill or Kips Bay area, it’s well worth dropping in.

Teqa (447 Third Avenue between 30th & 31st Streets, Kips Bay)

Centrico

Note: Centrico closed in August 2012. A “public house” called Distilled replaced it. Centrico’s chef, Aarón Sánchez, says he hopes to open another Mexican restaurant somewhere in New York.

*

Until last week, Centrico was the only one of Myriad Restaurant Group’s high-gloss dining establishments where I had never had a full meal. That surprised me, because I am fond of restauranteur Drew Nieporent’s other places (Corton, Tribeca Grill, Nobu, and even the late lamented Mai House), and Centrico is only a five-minute walk from my office.

But for whatever reason, the Mexican-themed Centrico doesn’t exert the same gravitational pull as Myriad’s other restaurants. Its outdoor tables are reliably occupied in good weather, but on a cold autumn Friday evening the large dining room was practically deserted. It’s the size of a warehouse, and no more charming than a hundred other Mexican places you’ve been to.

We wonder how much attention chef Aarón Sánchez gives this restaurant, given his commitments to his other NYC restaurant, Paladar, plus food network shows, cookbooks, and so forth? The menu is inexpensive, but we found the food uneven, and frankly uninspired.

Guacamole ($12; right) lacked the vibrant flavor that Frank Bruni praised in his 2006 review, and it didn’t seem to be fresh. The multi-colored chips Bruni mentioned have been replaced by generic ones that could have come from the supermarket.

A Vegetable Quesadilla ($10; above left) didn’t have much flavor on its own, though the spicy tomatilla salsa on the side somewhat rescued it. Pulpo a la Plancha (10; above right), or baby octopus, tasted rubbery.

Roasted Chicken ($20; above left) was the best thing we tried. The skin had a smoky garlic flavor, while the meat was tender and juciy. But Braised Short Ribs ($23; above right) were a dull, stringy, soupy mess. I liked Sánchez’s take on corn on the cob ($7; below); by the time I tasted it, I wished I hadn’t filled up on so many far less satisfying items.

I had intended to visit Centrico about a month earlier, but on the day of our reservation the restaurant had to close because of a mechanical failure, and management offered us a return visit on the house. We were treated with admirable courtesy and weren’t charged a dime.

It is therefore unfortunate to report that we found so much of the food so dull, even by the generally low standards of Mexican cuisine in Manhattan.

Centrico (211 West Broadway at Franklin Street, TriBeCa)

Sueños

Note: Sueños closed in March 2014.

*

We don’t make a habit of following Frank Bruni around the city, but he caught our attention last week when he recommended Sueños, chef Sue Torres’s modern Mexican restaurant in West Chelsea. Unusually for us, we didn’t have other plans, and Sueños was available.

Torres moved up the NYC restaurant ladder, working at La Grenouille, “21”, and Arizona 206 (among many others) before becoming head chef at the Rocking Horse Café at the tender age of 23. In 2003, she moved to Sueños, where she is both chef and owner. In the Times, William Grimes awarded one star. Aside from a brief fling with Los Dados in the Meatpacking District in late 2007, Torres has kept her focus on Sueños, and that’s probably a good thing.

The space is delightful, making the best of an oddly shaped layout. To get in, you pass over a gang plank that passes between two buildings. Initially, you’re in an ample bar area, where the margaritas are wonderful.

There are two dining rooms, where the exposed brick is painted in bold, saturated colors. They wrap around a courtyard decorated with a fountain and scrub brush. It allows natural light into a space that would otherwise seem claustrophobic. We were in the smaller of the two rooms, a glass-enclosed porch that appears to have been manufactured out of the gap between two buildings.

We had no trouble getting a reservation the day of our visit, but the restaurant was mostly full. The server said that Frank Bruni’s blog post was certainly helpful, but that they’d been doing well anyway. (He also said that Bruni was not recognized on any of his visits.)

The inexpensive menu has appetizers priced from $6–10, entrées $17–25, and side dishes $5. A five-course tasting menu is $50. It’s a concise document that fits on just one page.

Every table gets home-made bean dip with corn bread (above), which is a wonderful way to start a meal.

Both the Shrimp Stack ($10; above left) and the Chicken Chilaquiles ($10; above right) featured the bright, forward flavors and the balanced seasoning that Torres is known for.

Pork Tacos with warm apples ($18; above left) and Hanger Steak Tacos with queso and black beans ($19; above right) showed that same excellent sense of balance, but neither one could be eaten as intended. The pork tacos were too messy and too hot to pick up, while the steak tacos quickly leaked through to the outside of the soft tortilla shell.

The wine list had plenty of options in the right price range. We settled on a $29 Spanish red that was just fine, though I haven’t noted what it was. Service was smooth and unobtrusive. We lingered both at the bar and at the table without ever feeling rushed.

Non-formulaic Mexican food is hard to find in the city. Based on the sample we had, I get the feeling that the farther you stray from Mexican classics, the more interesting Chef Torres’s food becomes.

Sueños (311 W. 17th Street, west of Eighth Avenue, Chelsea)

Food: *
Service: *½
Ambiance: *½
Overall: *