Quick Bites: A Simpler Empellón Cocina

[Pigging by Wilfrid: October 12, 2012]

Back in February, I said that Alex Stupak's Empellón Cocina might turn out to be the best new restaurant of the year. In October, I don't see much reason to alter that opinion. But there have been changes.

I don't have a copy of the opening menu, but the current one-pager looks a good deal more sparse. The kitchen may be hunkering down to a few things it does well; but it still does them very well indeed.

I described the menu in my first review: "(no tacos, but)...several dishes which come with tortillas - as well as dishes for the table, dishes with corn, seafood dishes, and small plates - which actually turn out, more or less, to be the entrées.  It's all pretty random..." It's now tightly edited. Four snacks for the table, two corn dishes, two "melted cheese" dishes, plus seven starters and six mains, now clearly designated.  Oh, and oysters too.

There's still a range of intriguing salsas, served with big, thick, crunchy corn chips.  I went for the one with which I was least familiar -- sikil pak (pumpkin seeds, tomato, onion, garlic, cinnamon, epazote, sour orange juice, serrano, it says here). Stupak is capable of pumping bold levels of heat into condiments, but this was mild, with a flavor of tobacco and eggplants, although it contained neither.

Traditionally, sikil pak is more like a peanut butter, only made from pumpkin seeds. Stupak has taken the flavor, but rendered it with the texture of a salsa.

There are two tamales among the snacks, each listed at a reasonable $4 -- the tamal colado with chicken, which I'd eaten before, and a wheat tamal with pork and chorizo. So that's what I had; mildly flavored with tender, shredded pork.

My server got excited when I ordered the ruby red shrimp with sea urchin mousse.  One of her favorites.  By the way, there's still a very high likelihood of your entire order being served at the same time here, unless you specify otherwise.  "I'll be sure to 'course' it for you," she said.  And she did; but it was still a fairly rapid meal.

She got excited when I ordered ruby red shrimp with sea urchin mousse.  One of her favorites. By the way, this kitchen still likes to send out your ordered dishes as fast as possible, unless you specify otherwise. "I'll be sure to 'course' it for you," she said.  And she did, but it was still a fast-moving meal.

The shrimp were notably shrimpy. The sea urchin was neatly threaded between two snake-like strips of masa chip. Cute.

I was curious to see what appeared to be pasta dishes listed in the "masa" section of the menu: a fettuccine and a spätzle. The latter turned out to be made, quite distinctly, from corn flour (I assume the fettuccine is too). And does that add some flavor? It does.

Corn spätzle with sweetbreads, a green chorizo gravy, and a sunny duck egg -- a fine representative of what Stupak has been doing here.  Simultaneously unusual and comforting, rustic and precise, flavorful but unshocking.  I've had that green gravy with the rabbit, and I don't care how soon I have it again.

So, an Empellón with its sails trimmed, but still worth investigating, especially as there's always a chance of something truly inspired, like the headcheese terrine, or that stuffed rabbit, showing up on the menu. I'll soon be ready to visit again.