IXTA Cocina Mexicana + Mezcal Bar

You Might Actually Want to Eat at These New NYC Clubstaurants | Eater NY

"I went to Ixta in the old DBGB space on the Bowery just north of Houston and initially had excellent lunch chilaquiles with fried eggs while seated in the lobby, not realizing behind curtains lay a banquet-hall–dressed room with dozens of rattan lampshades, bright tropical paintings, and pottery in niches. On a later night the place filled with disco-attired diners: my cocktail, the Ixta Nixta ($17), came with a corn husk set aflame; the dinner menu has shifted from strict Oaxacan toward pan-Mexican, and some earlier standout dishes (including one with duck) were gone. Highlights included a Baja-style aguachile ($27) in a pink hibiscus broth, Spanish papas bravas — crisp potato chunks coated with smoky chiles Moritas — and a pair of enchiladas divorciadas ($27) presented as Oaxacan-style enmoladas (one black mole, one red mole). The birria tacos ($21), made with traditional goat, were overstuffed and fatty and, in my view, the best birria I’ve had outside Los Angeles; desserts included globular churros and a tres leches cake smothered in goo. As we left the room filled with customers in gold chains and white turtlenecks, and a tux-wearing crowd in the lobby made us feel a little whisked out like unwanted interlopers." - Robert Sietsema