Opened: March 2024
In the lobby-adjacent Clarendon Hotel spot where Gallo Blanco trailblazer Doug Robson first proved his Modern-Mexican mettle, chef Pierce Azlin (former culinary director for The Maggiore Group) massively outperforms expectations with dish after terrific dish. Hamachi crudo ($18) arrives in a fragrant bath of chipotle-infused yuzu aguachile, with a zest of burnt citrus that elevates the common starter dish to a different plane. It’s ridiculously good. Another sharable appetizer – mild, nuanced confit tomatoes drizzled with pesto on a cloud of ethereal, burrata-like stracciatella cheese ($12) – excites unhealthy feelings of competition at the table. I grab the last remaining wedge of toasted Noble bread and finish it off with a small pang of shame. From the entrée menu, short rib barbacoa ($26) is everything I hoped it would be: succulent and tender, punctuated with pickled Fresno chiles and served with creamy poblano grits. Even better was chicken fried rice ($22), spiced with sambal, splashed with salty tamari and catapulted into greatness with a texturally diverse medley of seasonal vegetables.
As we edge past the halfway point of 2024, this hard-to-categorize fusion restaurant gets my vote for Pleasant Surprise of the Year. I might even expend a superlative and call it a revelation.
Wild Card: How does a smash burger ($18) fit into all this? Quite well, actually, swiped with Thousand Island on a Noble bun.
401 W. Clarendon Ave., 602-252-7363, goclarendon.com
