Maiz Agua Sal - MAS

Maíz Agua Sal (MAS) Now Open in Charlotte | Eater Carolinas

"Opening April 11 at 1018 Jay Street in West Charlotte, Maíz Agua Sal (MAS) is Queen City’s latest tortilleria and agave bar where chef Jonathan Olvera, a 26-year-old first-generation Mexican American from Salisbury, leans on family recipes and childhood memories of Michoacán to honor the women who raised him while explicitly rejecting claims to “authenticity.” I was impressed by how central the tortilla is here: made daily on an SUV-sized machine with heirloom masa imported from Mexico, the tortillas are a star attraction, and dishes like the maiz pico — grilled corn with onions, garlic, cilantro, lime, and tomato — nod to his gas-station taco memories while flautas de tinga recreate his mother’s chipotle adobo chicken birthday dish. Amanda Britton runs a mezcal-forward agave program that includes a prized bottle of La Gritona reposado and creative cocktails such as Piti Platillo (served in a sawed-off Tecate can with chili powder on the rim, smoky mezcal, hot sauce, and lime) and From the Heart (vanilla agave taming mezcal with acid-adjusted pineapple juice). Alyson Davis’s design — Julio Gonzalez murals, colorful recycled-light fixtures, multicolored ropes overhead, and a dramatic front patio with Uptown skyline views — aims to evoke vibrant Mexico City neighborhoods and provides a lively setting for Olvera’s project of honoring his heritage while imagining more refined possibilities." - Timothy DePeugh