Flex-Mex

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/11/2017 (3241 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

La Carnita, a recently opened Main Street eatery, is a Toronto import. Already dishing out gringoed-up Mexican food in four small neon- and graffiti-covered T.O. venues, the trendy chain has expanded into Winnipeg, transforming an Exchange District heritage building into its fifth location.

Offering a gentrified take on Mexican-style street eats, the menu focuses on tacos piled high with intriguing ingredient combos and lots of fresh, distinct flavours.

There’s a prix fixe lunch deal for the daytime crowd, but with a long central bar, an even longer list of high-end tequilas and a generally dark and edgy ambience, La Carnita works even better as a nighttime joint.

The short menu features a handful of appetizers. Tortilla chips are overly thick and heavy and the accompanying guacamole (really, is there a more polarizing dip?) is just OK.

You’ll do much better with mushroom empanadas, which combine a rich wild mushroom filling with good flaky pastry. Or with the terrific street corn, which comes in plates of two and features tender and sweet corn that’s charred and then covered with sharp and salty queso anejo, dusted with a little ancho chili powder and drizzled with crema, for a very messy but very tasty result (our server took pity on us and handed out those little moist towelette packets).

The kale caesar, with shredded greens, bacon and crisped strips of tortilla standing in beautifully for croutons, is good but too light on the chipotle-infused dressing. The avocado mango salad, with garnishes of jicama, chili and pepitas, offers lots of crispy-smooth, spicy-sweet contrasts.

The menu’s stars are the tacos, which are served small and flat (and sometimes a little pricey) on wooden boards.

The pollo frito combines piled-up crispy dark-meat chicken with peanut mole sauce, salsa fresca and green cabbage, for a great meld of flavours and some satisfying crunch. Ditto for the painfully named In Cod We Trust, with its nice balance of fish, lightly pickled red cabbage slaw, lime crema and house-made “Voltron sauce.”

Other options include the carne asada, the slightly chewy beef balanced with shallots and tomatillo salsa, and the tuna ceviche, finished with coconut and chili and served up on a crisp tostada. The satisfying vegetarian option includes beans, cauliflower and pickled carrots.

The dessert menu is short but suitably sweet. Churros are basically deep-fried ribbons of dough, so they need to be hot and fresh, and these are, gorgeously so, and served with cajeta, a mellow but complex caramel sauce made from goat’s milk.

The paletas are small ice cream bars, with grown-up tastes like key lime finished with some crumbled graham wafers, as well as kid-friendly classics like chocolate peanut butter. (Parents take note: there is also a short children’s menu for entrees, a friendly touch.)

The tres leches cake is served in a Mason jar, which has become a bit of an inescapable hipster restaurant cliché but actually works with this soft, gooey cake, named for the three kinds of milk (evaporated, sweetened condensed and heavy cream) that infuse it. The cake’s mild, creamy taste gets a seasonal finish — on one night, apple and cinnamon, on another, milky chocolate.

There’s a good beer selection and an impressive tequila list. House margaritas include classic lime, really nice and clean, or watermelon, the sweetness offset with a little heat.

The decor, which sees the chain’s trademark street style meeting the architectural respectability of a turn-of-the-20th-century bank, is an improbable but interesting mashup of edgy murals and marble Corinthian columns.

It needs to be pointed out, though, that the room is cavernous, dark, and very loud: on one night playing hip hop with bass, I could feel vibrating in my chest. (I’m not trying to do a cranky-old-man-on-the-porch thing here, I’m just giving you the lowdown, knowing these conditions will be an incentive for many diners and a deal-breaker for others.)

Service is friendly but erratic. Servers were happy to tell us about heat levels, for instance, providing guidance for both the heat-seekers and the spice-averse. But attentiveness lulls, with the general vibe heading more toward flag-’em-down bar service than a standard restaurant setup.

And the food “just comes out as it comes out,” one server told us, which works pretty well for shared small plates, but might be tricky if one member of your party is holding out for just one dish.

alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca