Paulius Musteikis
An outstanding Mexico City street version of tlacoyos, with toppings.
The cheery restaurant El Sabor de Puebla is tucked into a converted house on Williamson Street, across from the BP gas station. Since it last housed a restaurant (Café Costa Rica), the space has been artfully redecorated with bright tapestries, big murals and even a bedazzled blue sombrero. It’s homey and happy, with bold colors set against charming knotty pine walls.
Diners can sit in the sunny front room, full of windows, or in a second area closer to the kitchen. There’s a counter, but unless you’re ordering to-go, there’s swift and friendly table service.
Reyna Gonzalez is the proprietor and cook here. She’s well known for her tamales (first sold at the Northside Farmers’ Market, and now at both Willy Street Co-ops). Gonzalez’s brother, Juan, is a farmer (he’s behind the Los Jalapeños CSA), and the restaurant sources directly from him in the summer months. It may be the only Mexican restaurant in the Madison area with this kind of direct connection to certified organic local produce.
The menu is familiar Mexican fare — tacos, tortas, enchiladas — with a few surprises, and is divided between “snacks” and entrees. During the week, filling lunch combos are $8.
If you ask, you’ll be guided to dishes featuring the in-house mole. The sauce is rich and chocolaty, gratifying served over chicken legs in the mole poblano or on the generous burrito. Gonzalez hails from the city of Puebla, where mole is a specialty, and her version is redolent of nuts and spices with a strong raisin flavor.
Enchiladas can be served with the mole as well, but are also tasty doused in a green tomatillo sauce, which is fresh and has a compelling sourness.
It’s important to know that there are three additional housemade sauces if you ask for them: a bright orange chile arbol, a dark and brooding guajillo and a fiery habanero. They are excellent and should not be missed. Tables also sport commercial hot sauces like Valentina and Tapatio.
The gratis chips are fine, and the slightly watery garden salsa accompanying them is also housemade.
Small, quality differences begin to add up quickly. For instance, entrees with cactus (nopales) arrive with large, honest chunks of grilled cactus and not little canned pickled strips. It’s served this way on the costilla de res — beef ribs that are difficult to eat off the little rib bones, but supremely flavorful. The fried fish is never greasy, but instead perfectly executed — crisp on the outside, flaky within.
Tortillas accompanying these larger items are warm, fresh and yielding, and always corn, not flour. The beans and rice are nothing special, but filling.
Tacos are classic, with onion, cilantro and lime (except for the chicken, which sports cheese and sour cream, making them an oozy delight).
The real stars of the menu are in the snacks section, specifically anything involving masa flour. Gonzalez’s picaditas are absolute heart-stealers: pastry-like tortillas with a pinched rim to hold onions, fresh cheese and sauce (choose green). They’re like soft, savory tartlets, and arrive still warm from the griddle. This is a perfect street food.
Likewise, the tlacoyos are outstanding. For these, masa flour is stuffed with beans and meat (choose pork), griddled flat in an oval shape, and then topped with sauce, lettuce and fresh cheese. The filling has a wonderfully aromatic herbaceous flavor, and they are large enough to make a meal. Just note that a traditional tlacoyo does not have any topping except salsa, so these are more of a Mexico City street version.
A snack, but easy to miss since it is listed among the entrees on the menu, is the equally outstanding tostada de ceviche — fresh, marinated shrimp with onions resting on a shmear of crema, all topping a crispy tostada. Add it to the list of incredible dairy/seafood combinations that shouldn’t work, but do. Share it, or combine it with another item for a meal.
The restaurant is still in the process of applying for an alcohol license, but there’s a cooler stocked with Mexican Coke, Jarritos and other beverages. Recently there has been a must-try house-made tamarindo drink. It’s not at all sweet; in fact, it provides a great sour foil to accompany the spicy food.
It’s been puzzling that Williamson Street has lacked a real Mexican restaurant. Finally getting one from a masa queen who is committed to quality ingredients is the perfect fit.
El Sabor de Puebla, 1133 Williamson St., 608-422-5264
11 am-9 pm Sun.-Wed.,11 am-10 pm Thurs.-Sat.
$3-$12
