How many Mexican moms go to the trouble of making smoked chicken stock for fideos secos? Toasted pasta simmered in chile-spiked tomato sauce, the dish is the SpaghettiOs of Latin America, a beloved childhood favorite that’s rarely more complicated than that.
Dávila’s food is big and bold, and there’s always a lot going on in it—it’s always in your face. And you’ll want to put it in your face. The question is: Are you strong enough to stand up to it? An unfortunately vocal minority who visited Dávila’s last posting—Andersonville’s ill-fated Cantina 1910—wasn’t prepared for her particular vision of Mexican food.
The guacamole, smashed with raw garlic, salt, lime, and garlic oil, is sprinkled with a nutty-tasting black ash culled from the incinerated remains of the kitchen’s chile seedings. A ceviche is made from finely diced Sonoran shrimp brined in their own shell stock, then soaked in lime juice. It’s dressed to order with a vinaigrette of herb oil, juiced serrano and lime, leche de tigre, radishes, and scallions. A dish servers are pitching as “Mexican tartare” is tenderized and minced raw outer skirt steak seasoned with coriander, cumin, black peppercorn, chile, lime juice, and Maggi seasoning (the ace in the hole for a michelada). Fish such as (so far) tuna, bass, and fluke aren’t commonly served with mole, but here their delicate flesh comes draped with a springlike mole verde incorporating a riot of greens, seeds, spices, fruits, and vegetables: blistered romaine, spinach, watercress, mint, fennel, cilantro, epazote, parsley, hoja santa, sesame seeds, pepitas, cinnamon, allspice, tomatillos, and poblanos. Sweetbreads, sliced cutlet style, are fried and served with a salsa Veracruzana just as a whole red snapper would be, the crispy batter melding with olives, orange, and tomato.
Mi Tocaya
Dávila couldn’t abide the subpar commercial domestic cheeses available for the signature dish of San Luis Potosí, her family’s hometown, so she concocted a blend of queso cincho and soured queso fresco to give her tiny, ravioli-like enchiladas potosinas the proper tang.
2800 W. Logan 872-315-3947mitocaya.com
