Ate at the soft opening today. We parked at the 212 North 2nd Street parking garage, where the first hour is free. The ticketing machine wasn't working, so we got free parking after staying for more than an hour.
This restaurant was created by Rumcow and Whiskey Tango. It's located two doors down from Rumcow. The decor is similar to Rumcow- palm island, shabby chic style with lots of fake plants.
It's a small restaurant. There is some bar seating, seating on the ground floor and upstairs. No outdoor seating. The most seating at a table is four total, located upstairs.
After entering you pay at the front cashier and then sit wherever you like. They give you a number and bring the food to your table when it's ready.
For appetizers, we tried the Hush Puppies ($5), which are supposed to be stuffed with jalapeno and cotija cheese with roasted garlic aioli sauce. The hush puppies were big deep-fried balls topped with grated cotija cheese. Couldn't taste any cotija cheese inside and there were barely any jalapenos. I rejoiced when I found the one golden piece of jalapeño in my hush puppy. Other than not having the ingredients as advertised, it was a good hush puppy and the garlic aioli sauce paired perfectly with it.
By the way, the Street Corn appetizer is Esquites, not elote (corn on the cob).
Besides appetizers, chips and salsa, rice, beans, queso and guacamole are offered. Ordered the fried jalapeno queso ($8) and the smoked shrimp and bacon guacamole ($9). Both the queso and guacamole were served with pita chips and in cute plant pots.
The queso was a white queso with two deep-fried whole jalapenos stuck in the queso dip. How the jalapeno was presented made it hard to eat. It would have been better if the jalapeno was diced or not put in the queso to prevent sogginess. Otherwise, the queso with bites of the jalapeno was delicious on the pita chips.
The smoked shrimp and bacon guacamole was okay. I didn't like the pairing of pita chips with this guacamole. Tortilla chips would have been a better choice. Big bacon pieces and chopped shrimp dominated the guacamole. It would have tasted better if the bacon pieces were cut into smaller pieces or minced. The shrimp didn't have a strong smoky flavor as I hoped for.
Taco meals come with two tacos pieces and you can make it into a burrito or a bowl instead as well as a combo meal with salsa, chips, soda for an additional $3. Unfortunately, cannot mix and match different kinds of tacos. There are two types of tortillas listed, either flour or corn. However, the staff said they have a third option that is a mixture of both flour and corn. They allowed a mixture of different tortillas for each taco order.
My partner tried the chorizo and beef tacos ($8) as well as the short rib tacos ($10). I ordered the duck confit tacos ($12). The tacos were served on top of newspapers laid down on a round tin plate.
My partner thought his tacos tasted okay, gave them a rating of 7/10.
The duck confit taco was good, but it was missing some of the ingredients like mole and pecans in the mango pecan salsa. I liked the flavors of the mango with cucumber and red bell pepper in the taco.
I got one taco with a corn tortilla and the other taco with the flour and corn mixture tortilla. Both tortillas were good. The flour/corn tortilla had a nice crisp from being heated on the grill.
They had a plan of making their own hot sauce, but they did not have it ready/available during our visit. Sriracha was the only hot sauce available.
For beverages, they had sodas, canned and bottled beer, canned wine, tequila, and cocktails. There is no tap water available, only bottled water for a fee. Tried the Naranga celestial cocktail. Either tequila or Mezcal is added. I went with Mezcal, which added a nice smoky flavor. The cocktail also had orange zested ancho agave syrup, orange, pineapple, and lime juice with the one large ice ball. The cocktail was good, sweet, but barely had any alcohol. I'm a lightweight and I didn't get any buzz. I wasn't impressed the cocktail was served in a plastic cup either.
They forgot to bring us utensils so we had to ask for them. Only forks were provided.
I think after they get everything situated and the routine down, the food will get better. read more