Swaroopa and I decided to go there on a whim on a Wednesday night around 5:45. We figured it was so early that there had to be something we could get as a walk in. When we go there the entire restaurant was empty and they told us that they could only seat us at a table that they needed back in an hour. That was a bit tight, so we opted to sit at the already crowded first-come-first-serve communal table where we could sit as long as we wanted to. The menu concept here is similar to ABC Kitchen - fresh, organic, local ingredients in an American tapas format but it's got a hint of Latin American twist as there is a full taco section. Swaroopa wasn't starving so we ordered the guacamole ($11) and cheese fondue ($14) to split and then I ordered the ham and cheese fritters ($10) and crispy fish tacos ($13) for myself. I was a bit bummed that the guacamole wasn't the fresh spring pea version that everyone has been raving about but instead just a regular guacamole. The guac was good, fresh, and smooth with just a few chunks of avocado but I would have loved to have experienced the pea version because I'm sure it would have been really tasty and unique. We primarily got the cheese fondue because the group next to us got it and it looked gooey and amazing. But when we ate it, neither of us were very impressed with it. It was extremely heavy and the cheese they used seemed too strong and it had this sour tangy taste to it that was quite unappealing. The waitress asked us what was wrong and we just said it was too heavy and not the right dish for us. I appreciated that she took the time to ask us for our feedback and was very pleasant and not defensive about it. I know cheese fondue is generally a heavy dish but this one just wasn't a winner in my book. Luckily, I had the other 2 dishes to look forward to. The ham and cheese fritters were nicely fried with a balanced and subtle combination of ham and cheese inside. It was very similar to a croqueta where there isn't tons of obvious pieces of ham or cheese but more of the ham and cheese flavor to it. The fritters themselves were pretty small, probably 1 or 2 bites max, so if you're sharing it with someone else, be prepared to not get full from this dish. But the star of the night was the crispy fish tacos. Good lord, these were AMAZING. I am usually not a huge fan of small expensive fancy tacos because I feel like they are generally a rip off, but I am totally making an exception for this one. Yes, they are small (maybe 2-3 bites max), yes they are expensive (there are only 2 of them for $13), yes they are fancy (it's served with spicy aioli mayo and cabbage chili pickle) but they are damn good. The fish is a light battered, almost tempura-like but it's perfectly done so that it's not greasy or overly battered. You can still taste the fresh fillet of white fish underneath and the combination with the spicy mayo and shredded nappa cabbage was fantastic. I would come back here just for these tacos. I was pretty full by this time, so I wasn't going to order more food. But the girls next to me got the tomato salad which looked amazing. They were the reddest, juciest tomatoes I had ever seen and I almost wanted to ask them if I could have a bite. I would say besides the fish tacos, the way to order here would be to stick to any of the local seasonal vegetable dishes like the tomatoes, corn, beans, and peas. You can actually piece together a pretty good vegetarian meal here without much difficulty.
By the time we were done eating, the place was completely packed to the gills, so I'm glad that we were able to get a seat at the communal table and didn't have to get kicked out of an individual table. My one compliant about the communal table is that it's tight seating - I was almost sitting on top of the girl next to me and it's very very loud. I could barely hear Swaroopa at times and she was sitting right across from me. Total bill: $80/pp with tax, tip and drinks
Photo Credit: Yelp
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