Our neighbors, Jonathan and Bethany Umbel, have teamed up with Top Chef Mike Isabella to bring a new Mexican small plate restaurant to Washington DC to replace their former Georgetown restaurant, Hook. Prior to the official opening at its M Street venue, the owners have opened for “spring training” in Cleveland Park at the former Tackle Box restaurant across from the Uptown Theater.
Last night we went with friends to try out this new venture. We were warmly welcomed by the attractive trio of hostesses and escorted to our table upstairs, which was much calmer than the first floor.
Dinner was prix fixe at $65 and included four different courses plus dessert, but not cocktails, wine or beer. Although this was much more food than we would normally eat for dinner, it did give us an opportunity to explore the entire menu and get a good sense of what Chef Isabella was doing in the kitchen.
Our waiter reviewed the enticing list of cocktails, and I selected the Tamarindo, a margarita with curacao, lime and tamarind puree. It was tart, complex and immediately replaced the caipirinha as my favorite latin cocktail. The others chose the Our Way margarita (with and without salt) which was made with lime, blood orange, and Grand Marnier - and tequila of course. It had great pucker and nice depth.
The first course for all of us was a smallish bowl of guacamole which had good flavor but was a bit too smooth in texture for my liking. In addition there was a salsa pasilla which had a deeper and slightly spicy flavor and “sikil pak” (a pumpkin seed dip), which was bland and tasteless. The accompanying chicharrones and chips were adequate, but weren’t worthy of a re-fill.
The second course consisted of taquitos, small crisp taco shells with various fillings, tuna ceviche, blue crab and beef tartare. The presentation on a wooden board was clever as was the black bean paste “glue” holding the taquitos upright. There did not seem to be enough tuna to give the taquito flavor; the beef tartare was bland; and although the blue crab filling was delicious it lacked any sense of a Mexican origin.
A word to the servers: it was jarring to be served only one or two plates out of the four that should have come out together. Perhaps we should have been told at the outset that the courses were served “tapas style”, if that was the intent. Otherwise, it just seemed that the kitchen couldn’t get its timing right.
The third course brought tacos, and we selected the mahi mahi, chicken, suckling pig and skirt steak versions. We all concluded that the seasoning was timid and the chef was big into bland. Although the ingredients were excellent, the flavors were one- dimensional. Indeed, the chicken taco seemed to have been conceived in the Graffiato kitchen with what I thought to be Italian flavors rather than Mexican.
Next came the “traditional” small plates. The empanada has never been one of Mexico’s premier dishes. Why put one on the menu and a fried one at that? The sopes were fine, little corn flower cakes with minced lamb on top. The enchilada verde did not distinguish itself, but the mole negro on top of short ribs was the best dish of the evening.
Finally came dessert, which unfortunately was not uplifting (or worth the calories). No chocolate choice! How come? Mexicans love chocolate as do we. The tres leches parfait was nothing but a mass of whipped cream and other fluff. Why try to improve on tres leches cake? The spicy mango ice cream was fun, but avocado ice cream was tasteless. Finally, the coconut flan seemed to have lost its coconuts and came topped with too much whipped cream, so the flan’s flavor was lost.
Bandolero is clearly a work in progress. I would recommend to the chef the KISS method - Keep It Simple and Spicy.
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