Opened: June 2024
As fun and whimsical as any silly rhyme you might think up, Okay Maguey (unnecessary translation: “OK, agave plant!”) gives the redeveloped PV area something indispensable to 21st-century American living: inexpensive gourmet tacos and regionally driven Mexican cuisine in a no-hassle strip-mall setting. Charismatic young owner Miguel Peredo (who opened a sister Okay Maguey location in Scottsdale in October) and veteran chef Jose Rodriguez are proudly biased toward Mexico City and Pueblan cooking, evinced by the devious interplay of cacao and dark chile spices in their enchiladas de mole ($12) and the salty salmagundi of bacon, carne asada, green peppers and other hearty treats packed into alambre ($20), a lip-smacking starter dish that also works great as an entrée. The Clamato-kissed shrimp ceviche ($14) is the best goblet of the stuff I’ve had this year; the cochinita pibil tacos ($3) are tender and top-notch; and the extensive list of margaritas and Mexican cocktails, including a grapefruit-liqueur-spritzed paloma ($12) were fab to the last. The only underperformer: bland-looking, seemingly out-of-the-can esquites ($8). That one is truly just OK.
Wild Card: Not feeling the meat? Enchiladas potosinas pleases with roasted carrots and potatoes wrapped up in a tortilla with a mild tomato-chile sauce ($16).
12005 N. Tatum Blvd., Phoenix, 602-825-1869, magueytacobar.com
