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Dining Out - Viva los Antojitos

By Stett Holbrook
Photographs by Judi Swinks

Given our proximity to Mexico, and the fact this was once Mexico, Californians are on a first-name basis with our southern neighbor. Most Californians have at least a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish. Cinco de Mayo is treated like a second St. Patrick’s Day in bars and restaurants. And we Californians know our Mexican food. Or do we?

Any self-respecting Golden Stater knows a chimichanga from a burrito and a tostada from a taco. But a lot of what passes for Mexican food in California is really supersized Americanized fare. But with 31 states and an area of 760,000 square miles, Mexico is home to diverse regional cuisines that are more interesting than the No. 2 enchilada and chile relleño combination.

Fortunately, Oakland is a great place to get more familiar with Mexico’s varied cuisines. Doña Tomás on Telegraph Avenue has a great, changing menu of authentic Mexican food. At the lower end of the spectrum, the taco trucks of the Fruitvale District specialize in the delicious twobites- and-they’re-gone tacos you’d find on the streets of any Mexican city. And now there’s downtown’s excellent Tamarindo Antojeria Mexicana.

Tamarindo specializes in antojitos, small plates of Mexican food that invite rounds of beer, pitchers of sangria and the company of friends. Think Mexican tapas. The restaurant occupies a beautiful storefront on Eighth Street.The dining room is small (just 30 seats or so), but the soaring windows, high ceilings and travertine tile floors give the place a breezy openness. The exposed brick walls, pendant lighting and Mexican folk art create an instantly appealing, urbane vibe.

But Tamarindo is more than a Mexican restaurant with a good architect (who happens to be one of the owners, Alfonso Dominguez). The menu is a testament to the efforts of Dominguez and his mother, Gloria Dominguez, to bring some of the lesser-known dishes of regional Mexico to this Old Oakland neighborhood.

The menu is divided into regular items and a changing list of more substantial, and more expensive, specialties. Botana de pico de gallo ($4), sliced cucumbers, mango and papaya seasoned with chile powder, sea salt and lime juice, is true street-vendor fare. The sweet mango slices play well off the salt and lime juice.

Many of the antojitos come in threes— great for sharing. Sopecitos surtidos ($8) are an excellent place to start. The trio of tiny masa cakes is topped with chorizo and potato, garlic shrimp and poblano chiles with dry cotija cheese.They’re gone in just a few bites, and at first I thought they were a little too small and precious for their own good, but that’s just because I wanted more. Everyone’s had a big tostada loaded with iceberg lettuce and spicy ground beef, but Tamarindo’s diminutive tostaditas de tinga poblana ($9) are on another level—three sand dollar-sized tortillas delicately composed with a layer of black beans, stewy-spicy chicken, cabbage and a few translucent slices of red onion, crema and small but potent pieces of chipotle (smoked jalapeño). This is another dish that teases you and makes you want more. So get more.

One of my favorites was the empanadas de camaron estilo Nayarit ($7), which translates as Nayarit-style shrimp empanadas. The flakey but thick turnovers are stuffed with chopped shrimp, serrano chiles and green onions and served with a bright and tangy tomatillo salsa. Be sure not to miss the tortas ($7).The key to this Mexican sandwich is the bread, and Tamarindo has a bakery make their telera rolls just for them. Best is the poblana torta, grilled chicken, melted Oaxaca cheese, avocado and strips of roasted poblano chiles. It’s lidded with a perfectly grilled roll that’s crunchy but still moist inside.

Tamarindo’s specialties are really special. Chile en nogada ($13) is one of Mexico’s most colorful and storied dishes. Made from stuffed and roasted poblano chiles topped with a creamy bread, walnut sauce and pomegranate seeds, the dish is designed to evoke the green, white and red of the Mexican flag. The chile is stuffed with ground beef, peaches and pears and yet is not cloyingly sweet.

Mole de tamarindo ($14) is a wonderfully rich and complex dish from the state of Querataro. Sour-sweet tamarind accents the velvety mole sauce, a creative twist on this classic dish. My only complaint is the use of chicken breast instead of leg meat. This is the best version of the dish I’ve ever had. Cochinita pibil ($15) is perhaps the most exciting thing on the menu. Hailing from the Yucatan peninsula, this is a dish of chile and achiote marinated pork steamed in banana leaves.The meat is wonderfully rich and tender and the sauce adds an intriguing complexity.The marinated red onions help offset the richness of the pork, and the white rice and fried plantains root this dish firmly in southern Mexico.

Beer, not wine, is usually drunk with Mexican food, but Tamarindo has a small but well-chosen wine list that stands up to the food. There are a few California selections but most come from Spain, Argentina and Chile. Proyecto 4 (bottle $25, glass $6.50), a Spanish blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Mourvèdre and Grenache, is an earthy, spicy red wine that’s a great match for many of Tamarindo’s bold-flavored dishes. Also good is the sangria (pitcher $22, glass $5).

Add friendly servers, good music and excellent desserts (the flan de coco, $6, is great), and Tamarindo has the makings of a downtown Oakland destination.Your super burrito-eating days may be numbered. Gloria Dominguez brings cochinita pibil (inset) and other regional dishes of Mexico to swank digs in Old Oakland.

The Details

Tamarindo Antojeria Mexicana. Mexican. Open 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5 p.m.- 9 p.m.Tuesday-Friday and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday. 468 8th St., (510) 444-1944. CC $$