Lauren Drewes Daniels
Audio By Carbonatix
A confluence of taste, culture and hospitality has landed in Dallas: Chef Anastacia Quinones-Pittman is consulting for restaurateurs Maurico Gallegos and Gerardo Barrera (Xaman Cafe, Ayahuasca) for a new coastal Mexican restaurant in the Design District.
Quinones-Pittman is one of Dallas’ longtime faves. The James Beard-nominated chef worked at many a local gem, including Komali, Cedars Social, Victor Tangos and Alma before her longest and latest stint at José. In April, AQ left Jose to open a new venture, Eledi. Last week, while working the pass at Puerto, she said that the spot is on hold for a bit.
She, along with her colleague Victor Rojas, formed Oh Hi Hospitality, and they are consulting at Puerto. Rojas is working on front-of-house operations, and Quinones is on menu and recipe development. Their veteran touches for high-end hospitality pair beautifully with this concept from Gallegos and Barrera.
Lauren Drewes Daniels
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A Door to Coastal Mexico
Prior to opening, AQ and Gallegos traveled to Mexico’s Baja coast, immersing themselves in seafood-based cuisine. They brought back local flavors and dishes influenced, in part, by Japan. At Puerto, there’s a raw bar with crudo, and tiraditos (crudo adjacent) alongside fresh tortillas.
The raw bar section of the menu is an exciting tour of different interpretations: oysters preparados with serranos and cucumber, along with aguachile, tiradito and ceviche. There are also grilled oysters, chocolate clams (a type of clam, not an added ingredient), and caviar service.
After that, the menu is tight and concise. There are three items under the soup and salad section: a panela salad and a kale Caesar, but you’ll be hard-pressed to pass on the crema de championes, a silky and satisfying mushroom soup with a pistachio salsa macha.
Mains
There are five options for the main entrees. A spicy and rich campanelle pasta with lump crab meat and a chiltepin cream. Scallop tataki comes with a Mexican five-spice and tamarind buerre monte. The grilled lamb chops sit on a bed of roasted butternut squash with cilantro oil. Peking duck breast is paired with the Mexican interior and a beet mole. A waygu bavette has a Yucatan-inspired recado negro.
We tried the campanelle pasta. Thick spirals of pasta, made locally, carry the heavy cream well; it’s a wonderful, fulfilling dish for a cold winter night with just enough spice from chiltepin peppers to give your face a light shine (not a full sweat).
Before that, we started with the tiradito de hiramasa. Sashimi-cut yellowtail sits in a sauce made with aji amarillo, a fruity pepper. Tangy candied kumquats and pomegranate provide pops of flavor, and smoked salmon roe adds bursts of the sea. The aji amarillo with yellowtail may best emulate the culinary goal here, offering something unique for Dallas diners.
Wine List and Cocktails
The bar program emulates Ayahuasca, which was named a Top 50 New Bar in America by Esquire last year; the wine list spotlights Mexican winemaking. According to a press release, 100% of the offerings come from Mexico’s leading producers, including winemakers from Valle de Guadalupe and Baja California Sur, as well as Queretaro, Coahuila, and other regions within Mexico.
The cocktail program similarly delves deep into Mexico; Condesa Gin is from Mexico City, and there’s Amla Finca orange liqueur from the Yucatan Peninsula. Gallegos is again mixing Japanese and Mexican flavors in cocktails; the house old fashioned is made with Mexico-based Abosolo Whiskey, Don Fulano reposado with toasted sesame and shio koji.
The Space
Puerto is located on the ground floor of a new office development along River Edge. Within the next month, the restaurant will offer a coffee program along with breakfast, lunch and grab-and-go items, along with dinner.
They enlisted Coveal Studios to design the space. It’s refined and relaxed, with natural light flooding through floor-to-ceiling windows, complemented by natural textiles, all bathed in warm, neutral shades of sand and ocean greens.
This is a great addition to the Dallas dining scene, and we’re excited to get to know it better.
Puerto Concina and Bar, 155 River Edge, Open 5 p.m. to midnight.
