Chicken Zarape.
El Centro D.F., a Richard Sandoval restaurant, recently launched a new menu on their enclosed (open year-round) roof, and added a few new dishes to their dinner menu. We took a tour of the rooftop space and then ate through quite a bit of the menu in the downstairs space (with it’s nice decor and artwork).
I ordered a margarita with one of their better tequilas (for an added $2 to the regular price) and it was well worth the upgrade. The guacamole and vegetable empanadas (camote, acorn squash, Oaxaca cheese, epezote oil) were both very good. The Chicken Zarape (bacon, panela cheese, cotija cheese, pico de gallo, chipotle sauce, crema fresca, refried beans, and creamy white rice) was tasty and seemed like a complete platter (unlike some of their other dishes that are more like one pot meals yet feel to me like they should be served with side dishes).
Vegetable Empanadas
The Chichilo Negro (smoked brisket, winter vegetables, pickled chiles, black chile broth)…was a problem. It was a one top meal that would have benefited from being presented more like the Chicken Zarape, but the meal problem was the beef itself. When working with tough cuts like brisket, you have to cook them a very long time. It isn’t that the beef was not just tough–it was unchewable, although the sauce was flavorful. The manager noticed I was not eating, and asked if everything was alright, so I told her about the beef. She ordered me a different dish and later told me that the chef agreed with me.
The substitution dish for the unchewable beef was Pork Pipian (pork carnitas, corn puree, green tomato salsa, caramelized onions). While the pork dish was tasty enough, it didn’t make up for the experience of having been previously served an inedible dish. Also, it was another one pot meal, and I preferred the platter-like presentation of the chicken dish.
I will definitely check El Centro out again. I might even order the beef dish again, since the sauce was good; I’m sure they will cook it enough next time. I’ll also be ordering guacamole and empanadas and trying to figure out which upscale tequila I had in my margarita last time.
-JAY
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