NEW IN TOWN: Comida Tipica Mexicana

Julia Spalding

August 29, 2011

A daytime tenant, Comida Tipica Mexicana, has moved into the lower level of Dunaway’s Palazzo Ossigeno at 35 S. East Street. The paper-boat tableware and Day-Glo bottles of Jarritos seem slightly out of place in that immaculate Art Deco bar, and even the employees want to make sure—double sure—diners understand that they are not in for a Dunaway’s meal. Before we had even sat down, we were informed twice—once by an orange-vested man in the parking lot, and a second time by our sweet server, Maria—that the menu was “just Mexican.” No problemo.

The lineup is limited to tacos, quesadillas, burritos, tamales, and tortas, which meant we were able to eat almost everything the kitchen makes. Out came a pair of tamales moist to the point of corn pudding, and loaded with seasoned shreds of pork and chicken. We could not resist the squirt bottles of smoky red sauce and kicky tomatillo, though these tamales needed no further adornment. A pork torta was more modest with its fillings than we are used to (in other words, we were able to finish it without dialing 911), and a chicken burrito had more meat than filler. But the winning order, three soft beef tacos at $2 each, contained perfect, salty morsels of steak, cradled simply with chopped onions and cilantro inside double-layered corn tortillas that had touched the griddle just long enough to attain the gentlest crunch. Muy Bueno!