Monthly Archives: August 2010

APPETIZERS

Guacamole 5

Sweet potato empanadas with chipotle, fig sauce    7

Marinated cactus salad with tomato, avocado, and house-made chicharones   8

Cheese and jalapeno-stuffed plantain fritters                                   with Oaxacan cream and salsa    7

Classic Caesar Salad 7

Queso fundito with pico de gallo, chorizo, and poblanos   6

TACOS come with assorted salsas and common garnish

Carnitas taco: 3 burrito: 8 platter: 12

Twice cooked pork with chipotle and tomatillos

Tinga de Pollo taco: 3 burrito: 8 platter: 12

Shredded chicken with cilantro and lime

Vegetales Mixtas taco: 2.5 burrito: 7 platter: 12

Roasted mushrooms, poblanos, and squash

Barbacoa taco: 3.5 burrito: 9 platter: 14

Braised beef with chiles and tomatoes

Cochinita Pibil taco: 3.5

Yucatan-style pork roasted in banana leaves.  Served with pickled red onions.

Chorizo de mariscos taco: 3.5 burrito: 9 platter: 14
House-made shrimp and mahi mahi sausage

Hongos con ejote y yerba santa taco: 3 burrito: 8 platter: 12

Roasted mushrooms, corn, and black beans, yerba santa, and salsa verde.

Cecina taco: 3.5 burrito: 9
Braised dried beef with tomatoes and chiles

Camarones Frito taco: 3.5 burrito: 9 platter: 14

Lightly battered and fried shrimp with cucumbers and spicy mayonnaise

Platters are larger portions and come with pinto beans, rice and tortillas.

ENTREES

Slow-roasted lamb mole negro with rice and heirloom shell beans   18

Pan-roasted mahi mahi with heirloom tomato-green bean salad and a mango, arbol coulis   19

Mole poblano of vegetables and soy “chicken”.  Served with black beans and rice  14

Vegetarian Chile Relleno with black bean puree 12

NC white prawns sautéed with guajillo chlie puree and garlic.  With black beans and rice  17

Like Water for Chocolate
Tuesday, September 7^th, 2010
6:30pm

The phrase refers to a heightened level of passion or excitement, a la the boiling point at which water is ready to make hot chocolate (not everyone uses milk for hot chocolate).  And it’s an apt title for this story chronicling a beautiful young woman’s excruciating attempt to deal with a love that she cannot wholly embrace.  Banished to the kitchen, her only tool to express this love and return the torment to those who handcuff her desires, is food.  And she does so well.

The book itself is somewhat of a cookbook, though it makes no claims as to being remotely accurate in terms of how to actually make the dishes it talks about.  Thus, all the dishes below are merely adaptations and/or dishes inspired by these “recipes”.  There are actually 12 dishes described in the book, but time simply does not allow us to go through all of them, so we need to simplify somewhat.  We will be offering the first two courses prior to starting the movie, the next two during a brief intermission, and then the dessert at the end.  Because the movie is subtitled, we think it best to not try to serve dishes during the movie as it’s hard to take one’s eyes off the screen and catch the dialog.

The cost for the meal is $30 (does not include tax and tip).  We will begin at 6:30 and should be finished with dessert by 9:30.  In order to make sure that everyone can see the screen well, this event is limited to 25 people and we’ve already got about 15 signed up.

Mini tortas of house-made chorizo and salted fish with pickled onions and jalapeno Tezcucana-style Beans

Chiles en Nogada (stuffed chiles with walnut sauce and pomegranate)

Turkey mole with almonds and sesame seeds

Cream fritters

APPETIZERS

Guacamole 5

Sweet potato empanadas with chipotle, fig sauce    7

Marinated cactus salad with tomato, avocado, and house-made chicharones   8

Cheese and jalapeno-stuffed plantain fritters with Oaxacan cream and salsa    7

Classic Caesar Salad 7

Memelas with Mexican ricotta, roasted beets, and chard

TACOS come with assorted salsas and common garnish

Carnitas taco: 3 burrito: 8 platter: 12

Twice cooked pork with chipotle and tomatillos

Tinga de Pollo taco: 3 burrito: 8 platter: 12

Shredded chicken with cilantro and lime

Vegetales Mixtas taco: 2.5 burrito: 7 platter: 12

Roasted mushrooms, poblanos, and squash

Barbacoa taco: 3.5 burrito: 9 platter: 14

Braised beef with chiles and tomatoes

Cochinita Pibil taco: 3.5 burrito: 9 platter: 14

Yucatan-style pork roasted in banana leaves.  Served with pickled red onions.

Lengua con Salsa Molcajete taco: 3.5

Braised beef tongue with roasted salsa

Yucca con chiles y queso taco: 3 burrito: 8 platter: 12

Yucca and chile hash with queso fresco.

Lonja de Puerco con Salsa Verde taco: 3.5 Slow-roasted pork belly with salsa verde

Camarones Frito taco: 3.5 burrito: 9 platter: 14

Lightly battered and fried shrimp with cucumbers and spicy mayonnaise

Platters are larger portions and come with pinto beans, rice and tortillas.

ENTREES

Herb-roasted Poulet Rouge chicken with adobo, yucca, goat cheese, and chiles   16

Al Pastor – Marinated and grilled pork loin and pineapple.  Served with beans and rice.   18

Local corn “tortitas” with roasted zucchini puree, sautéed vegetables, and queso Oaxaca 12

Vegetarian Chile Relleno with black bean puree 12

APPETIZERS

Field pea and mushroom empanadas with roasted tomato, poblano sauce   7

ENTREE

Spiced pork chop with yucca-chile croquette and simple mole       16

Pan-roasted amberjack with cilantro-citrus aioli, and peach-cucumber salad 14

DRINKS

Italian Tryst      8

A lilting and sensual blend of muddled mint and lime with Moscato d’Asti.
The name speaks for itself.

Unibroue “Terrible” Abby Ale     6

OK, so no points for naming skills here.  Though in fairness, these guys are French Canadian and “terrible” is intended in the French form as if to say, “awe-inspiring”.  Regardless, this is one impressive beer.  Deep colors and flavors and great balance. 

Mikkeller Single Hop IPAs    6

Special price on these unique beers.  A series of of American-style IPAs each made with a single variety of hops.  Ask your server for details.  We’re charging as much as the stores do.

Austrian wines with Mexican food?
It’s an idea so crazy, it just might work (in fact, it’s already working).  You may have noticed a pretty high percentage of our wines by the glass coming from Austria.  Well, it just goes higher as we recently added the Paul D Zweigelt.  The Paul D Gruner Veltliner was already our most popular white by the glass (and by a large margin, I should add) and certainly a staff favorite, so we figured, why not?  This bright little red is nothing short of delicious, like crushing a handful of raspberries into a glass, and like its white counterpart, a total steal.

So, what’s the story?  Well, earlier this year, I was fortunate enough to travel in the Austrian wine country and, as always, I imagined what sort of dishes would go best with each wine tasted.  Now, wines from Austria were already a fixture on the Jujube wine list, so I assumed that most would follow that cuisine.  However, Mexican dishes came to mind just as often!  And it makes sense; the wines are vibrant, bright, and supple—the perfect foil to both the spice and zest of Mexican cuisine.  So, check it out for yourself next time.