Of course, why wouldn’t a business focus on those who are eager to fork over big bucks for a fancy dinner? When high-dollar spots from Las Vegas and Miami, like La Neta and Komodo, respectively, set up shop in your neighborhood, the locals are wise to follow suit.
So it goes with El Carlos Elegante, the latest venture from Duro Hospitality, creators of The Charles, Sister and Cafe Duro. If Sister is, well, the sister restaurant of The Charles, then think of El Carlos Elegante as the Charles’ Mexican cousin that relocated to Dallas’ Design District. El Carlos is inspired by Central Mexican fare, with touches of South America. It's also tackling an in-house masa initiative, wherein heirloom corn is nixtamalized into scratch tortillas, teletas, moletes and tostadas.
Making scratch masa isn't exactly novel; you can find masa operations at taquerias across the city, as well as at Observer Top 100 spots José and Revolver Taco Lounge. At El Carlos, the promise of authentic Mexican is well executed, but the restaurant pushes the cuisine further up-market.
The exterior of El Carlos is nondescript, with just a small neon sign to announce its location, but step inside, where a treat for the eyes awaits. El Carlos’ dining room is a cornucopia of colors and textures, from artwork and wall tiles to copper tables and elegant light fixtures. If you grab a seat at the small U-shaped bar, just beyond the host stand, half of the seats offer glimpses into the kitchen, where you can watch the flames inside the wood-fired grill at work.
Closer at hand, bartenders will be happy to craft cocktails like the checco ($16), made with Arette Blanco tequila, Ancho Reyes liqueur and kiwi. El Carlos sports an impressive list of tequilas and mezcals, as well as a more modest list of wines by the glass.
More gems await on the food menu. On both of our visits, we started with El Carlos’ aptly named One Hitters. Each is a small bite, perhaps two if you’re careful, layered with different flavors, served in small metal tins on a bed of dried seashells. The tuna toro ($7) is a rich square of fatty tuna wearing a minuscule avocado crown, topped with gooseberry and pickled roe, all nestled on a tostada perhaps an inch in diameter. It’s a fatty and decadent chilled bite, the toro as good as any sushi restaurant's in the city. Equally impressive small bites are the surf and turf ($7), a sliver of prime beef wrapped in a crispy shell topped with caviar, or the Mexican foie ($9), which is shaped like a tiny crispy burrito filled with tamarind and rich foie gras.
On our first visit, our waitress recommended the chayote salad ($15) from the cold section. The salad is a visual stunner: delicate wide ribbons of chayote squash bloom from a bed of goat cheese puree that serves as the dressing of the salad. Golden beets and toasted almonds round out the dish. As delightful as the salad was to the eyes, we were less impressed with the flavor, which felt somewhat flat, and one note; perhaps more of the promised guajillo would help.
Much more impressive is El Carlos’ work with masa. As mentioned earlier, they’re making their own and the results are simply stellar. The chorizo molotes ($18) are fried pockets of masa filled with refried beans and chorizo, plated on top of a vibrant and spicy salsa roja and topped with dried nopales.
We were also wowed by the mushroom tetela ($18). Again, the masa is a star, here served as a crispy triangle afloat a sauce of maitake mushrooms, huitaloche, shallots, garlic and cream. Dollops of ricotta add a layer of creaminess to the earthy and spicy mushroom sauce and the crisped corn batter. The plate is enough for two diners to share.
Eager to sample something from El Carlos’ wood grill, two of us shared the al pastor ($36), grilled to perfection, each succulent bite that could star on its own, but accompanied by a rich adobo sauce and a pineapple butter that we never knew was missing from our lives.
Al pastor at El Carlos Elegante is cooked over a wood-fired grill and served with an abodo sauce.
Alison McLean
The Mayan hummus ($12) is a pureed pumpkin sikil pak expertly blended to merge sweet with spicy. Zucchini and squash are the vehicles to soak up the puree, while seasoned pepitas add some crunchy texture.
El Carlos’ dessert menu has just three items. On my first visit, I was drawn to the Mexican chocolate ($13), a chocolate pot de creme that manages to be dense and light at the same time, as if some kind of culinary magic trick. The dried meringue wafers accompanying the chocolate melt in your mouth, and the plate is liberally sprinkled with crumbled chocolate brown butter sprinkles. It was so good that on my second visit, I insisted that my chocolate-loving dining companion order it so I could try it again.
Like any of the restaurants in the Duro empire, the service never fails to make you feel like a rock star, whether you've made a reservation or just popped in for a bite and drink at the bar. The staff is well-versed on the menu and quick to make recommendations, and when something arrives at your table, the staff member takes a moment to explain the dish and its ingredient highlights.
With the influences of Mexican and South American cuisine so brilliantly on display, El Carlos Elegante has a lot going for it. But there's no escaping that upmarket dining experiences will cost more money, even if they're rooted in Mexican fare, than we usually associate with affordable meals. A visit to El Carlos Elegante borders close to the "special occasion" level of spending for many; my first visit, alone at the bar, with dinner and a cocktail was nearly $75 before tip. Even sharing dishes, but enjoying a couple of glasses of wine, two of us rang up a nearly $200 bill.
But as The New York Times pointed out, Dallas is home to many with deep pockets and a desire to spend money on meals as well as experiences, rather than simple nourishment. At El Carlos Elegante, those well-heeled diners are the target market, and the staff here has assembled a dining experience that may be worth the price of admission.
El Carlos Elegante, 1400 N. Riverfront Blvd. Sunday – Thursday, 5–10 p.m.; Friday – Saturday, 5–11 p.m.
