Restaurants

Ian's got the skinny on the new Flaco's

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Dinner entrées add a little flair to the standard Mex/Tex-Mex roster. For example, "carne asada" medallions feature beef tenderloin rather than the cheaper cut usually employed, while empanadas are stuffed with lobster, shrimp and scallops. The chorizo kebab — two chorizo sausages and a couple of hunks of chicken grilled on skewers — is gussied up with a delicious saffron barbecue sauce. The meat is served atop mashed sweet potatoes and, buried under the potatoes, wilted spinach. I'm not sure the spinach was necessary (it seemed like the kitchen was trying too hard to make a complete "dish"), and the grilled chicken was bland, but I liked the contrast in flavors and textures between the barbecue sauce, the sweet potatoes and the sharp, spicy chorizo.

Chiles rellenos brought a fat roasted poblano — spicier than you might anticipate — topped with cheese and stuffed with cilantro-spiked rice, vegetables and grilled chicken. (You can swap out the chicken for tofu, a thoughtful touch on the kitchen's part that's all too rare at this kind of place.) This is served in a pool of sauce that is either the same one that accompanied the enchiladas or something very similar. (Both are described on the menu as the restaurant's homemade mole.)

There is a wine list, but Flaco's Cocina is the kind of place where you want to order a Mexican lager or a margarita. It just has that vibe. I hesitate to call it a restaurant, even. It's a joint, mildly ambitious, mostly fun. Would the original Flaco be proud? I have no clue. But he wouldn't leave hungry.

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