Miti Miti

Review: Mitica in Greenpoint | Eater NY

"Occupying a space that was once Anella at 222 Franklin Street near Green Street, Mitica feels like a more serious sit‑down temple of fine dining than the owners' first project: two adjacent storefronts now house a stark, serious-looking bar with wall art of a gaucho fighting the devil and a plain dining room with a direct view of the kitchen, plus an inherited backyard with tables under a vine-draped trellis. In advance coverage it was called a Mexican steakhouse, but the actual menu is a brief nine-item list with only three dishes that qualify as mains — a big change from the nearly 30 items at the owners’ Jackson Heights cafe. Some El Submarino favorites were carried over: the aguachile negro appears here as a smaller $23 appetizer (halved shrimp plated horizontally in a cylinder with cucumber, herbs, and charred avocado) rather than the massive $19, drinkable marinade version I knew before. Starters impress: a minimalist guacamole — just ripe avocado, lime, salt, scattered fresh herbs (including a cilantro that looks like dill) — served with crisp blue tortillas is, to me, some of the best guac in town; the multi-seafood tostada called makabra (“macabre”) is fabulous. Other dishes are mixed: a lobster-forward taco gobernador on a folded carrot tortilla is flashy but not very tasty and hard to eat, while a creative trout plank topped with smoked fennel, tiny spiced potatoes, and dollops of a crema/aioli hybrid is one of the best things I've eaten lately (priced $29 but not nearly big enough). The two actual entrees — a mushy green risotto crowned with slices of pink duck ($35) and a pork shank with mashed potatoes — are fine but leave you wishing for more (especially more mashed potatoes). Then there’s the tomahawk steak ($85): served medium-rare with a giant bone, thickly sliced on the side, brightened by a reddish-brown sauce, and accompanied by grilled turnips, chiles, and a galaxy of greens and herbs with fresh tortillas — a spot-on steak that absolutely redefines what a steakhouse can be, though a single perfect steak doesn't, in my view, make the restaurant a steakhouse overall." - Robert Sietsema