As we were craving Mexican food, Jodi and I decided to try Añejo (aged in Spanish), the small plate restaurant where Chef Angelo Sosa, a runner up of Top Chef Season 7, crafted an elegant menu, elevating some traditional Mexican dishes. This place, opened last year, is an offshoot of the location in Hell's Kitchen. I do not know if the decor is the same, but the location in Tribeca is gorgeous: exposed brick, reclaimed wood, crystal chandeliers and Mexican art.
It is a tequila bar as well (they have an impressive selection), so do not go there if you want to have a quiet dinner! Between the music and the people at the bar, it was a bit tough to have a conversation...
There were many dishes we wanted to try on their menu. We started off with guacamole. Smartly, they have a sampler.
The guacamole we tried were:
The traditional, made with avocado, cilantro, red onion, jalapeño and lime:
The Verde, made with avocado, tomatillo, pumpkin seeds, pomegranate, poblanos and chipotle:
The pineapple chipotle, made of pineapple, chipotle and cotija cheese:
They were served with homemade tortilla chips that were delicious.
Their guacamole was good and I truly appreciated that none of them were spicy. My favorite was the traditional, then the verde (I loved the pomegranate in it, that added a nice sweetness and tartness) and the pineapple last, being a bit too sweet.
Then, we got the fish tacos:
The fish (hake) was dipped into corn flour before being perfectly fried. it was accompanied by pickled jalapeño slaw, mustard seeds and radish. It was good, but I thought it was missing some crunch and could have had more seasoning.
The next dish was the corn dumplings.
I loved that dish, for the corn and cheese dumplings, but also for the chorizo and tomato sauce that was fantastic, very hearty.
Last was the pork empanadas:
It was made of pork adobo and black beans, and served with a salsa verde. I really liked it: the shell was flaky and crispy, and the filling delicious.
We still had a bit of space for dessert. Well, we knew we would have dessert from the start, when we saw that they had a tres leches cake.
Unfortunately, if was just an ok dessert, not as exquisite as the tres leches we had in other restaurants. We should have gone for the flan...
For the most part, I liked our dinner at Añejo and would not mind going back, maybe more for lunch than dinner, the noise level being too high for me...
Enjoy (I did)!
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