What I Ate This Week

Hyde Park is one of those neighborhoods that’s easy for East Siders to take for granted.  After all, there are lots of interesting shops, it’s one of the few really walkable neighborhoods, and there are lots of lovely places for sitting on the square.  For such a progressive neighborhood, it hasn’t always been the most innovative place culinarily.  I don’t mind the places on the square, but HP is full of places I go to for convenience and atmosphere, not necessarily because of their awesomeness.  But when change comes, there are a lot of curious neighbors.  Such was the case on Friday at Poco a Poco, HP’s newest entrant, now 4 days open.

One always need to proceed with caution during a soft opening, but we were excited about the place  because there really isn’t much in the way of interesting Mexican foods on the East Side.  So we ventured in, after calling ahead for a reservation.

As others have written, the interior really doesn’t look much like Red, its super-masculine steakhouse predecessor—it’s much brighter.  It’s no less crowded, though—we had to squeeze into a tiny table—as they were totally full it was our only option so we made the most of it.  The menu is interesting—pretty much all Mexican and Mexican-inspired dishes.  The choices wouldn’t be out of place on a menu at Nada but each of them are a bit simpler, at least by description.  We decided that we’d try a variety of foods, but we started with some cocktails.  S had a mojito which “wasn’t bad” and I almost got the margarita until they told me it was made with well tequila and sour mix.  Instead I settled on an almost-too-sweet sangria.  Here’s tip #1:  if you’re going to have an actual drink menu, and you’re in Hyde Park, put some classier choices on display, too—I almost went for a beer instead!

The lights were very bright on Friday, but our harried but super-courteous server told us this was easily the dimmest night yet, as they had had television crews there shooting for Food Network the past few nights which meant that the lights were necessarily very, very bright.  In any case, we tucked into some chips and salsa, which weren’t complementary.  No bother, though, as the quality of these easily make the $2 an afterthought—seasoned with a kind of robust seasoning salt, the chips were light and crispy, and tasted homemade to me, while the salsa was then but very flavorful.  Not hot per se, but good essence of tomato and vegetables.  (They do have a house-made hot sauce which was just plain lovely—lots of heat to be sure, but not so much that it overwhelms and not such that one can only taste the hot!)

Our other appetizer was empanadas, a bit of a surprise, honestly, because most upscale restaurants tend to find the empanada a bit pedestrian for their menus.  This one was both delicious and interesting, with well-cooked but firm vegetables ensconced in a flaky delicious dough.  Even the zesty tomato sauce on the side was well-balanced.  This was an excellent appetizer and gave us lots of hope for the meal!

There were many reasons I ordered the “pork shoulder” main.  Besides being what is, for me, the most flavorful meat to prepare, it’s also one of the simplest looking things on the menu and pork shoulder is one of the really truly Mexican preparations—simple and delicious.  This version came out in a squared cast-iron serving bowl (as do many of their soups and sides) with some grilled flour tortillas.  (Nothing against northern Mexico and their flour tortillas but I’m always happier with corn!  I just wish there was a choice.)  It was just delicious.  The pork was appropriately fall-apart tender and was chipotle-spiced, alongside some pickled jalapenos for heat and a fresh crumbled cheese.  The flavors were balanced and bright—this is exactly what I had hoped for from the tingas at Nada but wasn’t able to get.  Even on a crazy-busy opening weekend, they took the time to make this dish a special one.

I wish I could say the same about the ubiquitous fish tacos.  S is a fish taco lover so it is no surprise that she jumped to it.  I was dubious only in that the menu didn’t list a kind of fish, and the server didn’t know.  But it arrived on the table, a beautiful pair of tacos with crema and lime.  Unfortunately, the fish was cooked to the point of being unrecognizable—it was hard and dry, and conveyed no real flavor profile—it was a big disappointment.

The sides saved the day—the (not pictured) black beans and rice is more of a “moros y cristianos” style of dry-mixed beans and rice, and unlike the underseasoned tacos were, if anything, too salty but at least moist and tasty.  The highlight was clearly the “charred corn” side—the only issue is that it struck me as a misnomer.  The corn may or may not have been charred, but the flavor profile was 100% “Mexican-flavored creamed corn.”  It may not sound good, but it was flavorful, bright, and creamy, and was the one thing on the table we kept coming back to.

All in all, it was a promising visit.  The place was packed full of people, but for the most part (hostess aside), the staff was unfailingly apologetic (even when they didn’t need to be), courteous, and very, very hard-working.  If I hadn’t just started my vacation this weekend, all the running around of the servers could have stressed me out!  They certainly looked harried, but that’s to be expected.  One of the co-owners spent some time with us and was exceedingly gracious—I sense they may be worried about if they were really “ready” to open, but to be honest, I don’t think you can ever know until your first Hyde Park Friday night, and I think given what they were up against, they performed admirably.  There are still a few kinks to work out—besides those above, the other one I’d put on the list was the near constant flow of filled garbage cans being taken from front of house through the dining room into the kitchen/back area of the restaurant; no one really wants to see big, full garbage cans pass inches from their dinner.  But we will be back—the place feels genuine and good-natured; let’s hope that they get on a path of continual improvement, poco a poco.