Salpicón: A Monet

Last Saturday my friends and I decided to try out Salpicón (http://www.salpicon.com/), an "upscale" Mexican restaurant in Old Town. We had tickets to Second City's 11pm performance and thought Salpicón would help us spice things up before the show. I had seen the place on my previous visits to Old Town and it looked inviting enough from the street, with its outside tables surrounded by flowers and plants and a hint of chicness in the inside salon. I also checked out its website and its reviews on LTHForum.com. All seemed favorable.

The night started off well, with the restaurant being very gracious and accepting a fifth with the original reservation for four as well as not giving us any trouble for being 15 or 20 minutes late. When I walked in, however, I was immediately struck by how the inside decor, inviting as it seemed from the outside, was not really quite up to par. In fact, it was quite a bit of a Monet - looked great from afar, but was a mess up close. The tables were set very close together and were not of the best quality. Nor were the plate settings, the silverware or the floor (all of which looked like they needed to be scrubbed). The paintings looked garish and grotesque. It was certainly not a fun-chic-summer-sparkly-tequila atmosphere I expected. I did not despair, however, as I've come to realize that in Chicago, the restaurants that look good serve worse food than restaurants that look crappy.

We got a round of The ¡Salpicón! Margarita (made with Herradura Silver, Gran Torres liqueur and fresh lime juice), which my friends thought was pretty good. We then ordered appetizers to share. The first was the Camarones al Carbón (grilled tiger shrimp served with an avocado-tomatillo sauce and a spicy roasted tomato and chipotle sauce, and garnished with fresh mango slices), which while good, was not awe inspiring. The sauces were too spicy for my taste and the shrimp were forgettable. The Guacamole Picado was very good, but would have been even better if there was a bit more of it. The Ceviche (which the restaurant for some reason spells "seviche" on both its website and the menu) was of fresh blue marlin marinated in lime juice with onions, tomatoes, fresh chiles and herbs. I thought it good, but not great.

The best appetizer and the best dish of the evening came in the form of squash blossoms stuffed with goat cheese and epazote (dipped in a light batter, sautéed and served with a roasted poblano cream sauce). The fragile blossoms were most delectably complemented by the delicate poblano cream sauce and the goat cheese was not at all over-powering but played well with the rest of the ingredients and provided great texture to the dish. This dish had an almost surreal quality to it and seemed like it just floated out of nowhere and landed on our table (no thanks to the harried waiter). It was marvelously elegant and I almost felt embarrassed for it having to make its appearance in that garish, loud, clumsy dining room, but I did not let it suffer for long.

The main course I almost feel like skipping as I have nothing good to say about it. I'll just briefly mention that my friend who ordered a Mahi Mahi (charcoal-grilled and served with salsa fresca and white rice) said the fish was a complete blah and the rice was absolutely unseasoned. I tried a steak, which while well cooked to specifications, was completely overwhelmed (as in the taste of the steak was entirely and sadly killed) by a very spicy chili sauce which I ended up scraping off the meat.

If I ever go back to Salpicón, and that's a big "if" because the prices were overly extravagant for the level of food and the atmosphere, I'll skip the appetizers (the squash blossoms with goat cheese are seasonal, so there's little chance I'll encounter them in the future) and the main course and go straight for the dessert. All at the table were satisfied with the dessert. Mine was Crepas Con Cajeta: a delicious crepe with a great sauce. It was for some reason stuffed with strawberries and raspberries, which were very much out of place, but the crepe and the sauce themselves were simply excellent.

To bring this review to its dutiful end, I would say find other places in Chicago for Mexican food, but if you are in Old Town and feel like a tequila and a dessert, Salpicón is as good a place as any.