República

"At this Pearl District tasting menu restaurant, brass lamps illuminate sleek white tables, the restaurant’s kitchen a stage observed by a handful of seats stretching down the restaurant. Here, the team delivers the nuance of Mexican cuisine in an imaginative way, while acknowledging and interrogating the impact of colonialism. Menus change frequently, but in a past meal, chef Jose “Lalo” Camarena served steak aguachile with explanation of the Japanese influence; on the palate, it murmured of tartare and tataki, mustard notes blending with mirin, tobiko providing a pop of brine among the tomato water. Crack — diners smacked open a mushroom cloud of masa crisp to reveal “what the Spaniards brought and tried to destroy,” pork and amaranth, the latter referencing the religiously and culturally significant crops, burned by colonizers. In the resulting dish, pork is rich and loud in the face of a salsa mocajete sweet with heirloom tomatoes. And alongside the dishes, beverage director Miguel Marquez gives the wines selected the same level of context, provided with each tasting pour." - Eater Staff

"Tableside lamps illuminate artfully constructed dishes at this Pearl District tasting menu restaurant, which uses pre- and post-colonial Mexican dishes as inspiration for a parade of dishes. For example, the corn masa beverage atole becomes a sauce for celery root gnocchi, while infladita here arrive filled with rajas and requesón. Reservations are essential here." - Katrina Yentch, Thom Hilton, Brooke Jackson-Glidden

"There aren’t many places in town to try food highlighting Mexico’s culinary history—while also managing to be fun, modern, and delicious. If you want to have the kind of transportive experience found in contemporary Mexico City restaurants, República’s seven- and ten-course tasting menus offer a great approximation closer to home. You’ll get small bites made with Mexican and Indigenous ingredients like annatto, palo santo, and plenty of corn, alongside dishes that draw from ancient Mayan times. Come here for a special occasion and add on a wine pairing that features pours exclusively from BIPOC, female, and LGBTQ+ winemakers, with a focus on Mexican and Mexican American producers. photo credit: Caroline Harper Food Rundown The menu at República changes frequently, but here’s a taste of what you can expect when you visit. Scallop, Foie Gras, Strawberry, Tobiko This show-stopper begins with a foie-infused masa cone that gets filled with a “ceviche” of seared foie gras and scallops poached in chile de árbol-infused ghee. If that wasn’t enough, this mixture then gets tossed with strawberry aioli, put in the cones, and garnished with tobiko. Pollo, Repollo, Prawn, Carrot Honoring Mexico’s Filipino influence, this chicken soup deconstructs sopa de ombligo and comes with one-bite cabbage rolls of chicken, prawns, and jalapeño served with chayote and chochoyotes, a.k.a. masa dumplings, for a light, comforting soup that’s an edible history lesson." - Krista Garcia

"There aren’t many places in town to try food highlighting Mexico’s culinary history—while also managing to be fun, modern, and delicious. If you want to have the type of transporting experience found while dining in contemporary Mexico City restaurants, República’s seven-course tasting menu is a great approximation closer to home. You’ll get small bites using Mexican and Indigenous ingredients like annatto, palo santo, and plenty of corn, alongside dishes that draw from ancient Mayan times. Come here for a special occasion and add on a wine pairing that features pours exclusively from BIPOC, female, and LGBTQ+ winemakers, with a focus on Mexican and Mexican American producers. " - krista garcia

"This tasting menu restaurant has existed in several different iterations under a number of different chefs in its tenure, but its current setup, under chef Jose “Lalo” Camarena, has introduced an exciting new era for República. On past visits, a reinterpretation of higado encebollado (liver and onions), painted rich veal liver over brioche checkers, brightened with serrano pepper gel and pickled onion. Parcels of fish told the story of the Battle of Puebla, incorporating French and Mexican culinary traditions, as an alternative to the deterritorialized margaritas and tacos eaten on Cinco de Mayo. Menus change often, but a through line true of República since its opening date: Every dish arrives with context, be it historical, agricultural, or personal." - Maya MacEvoy, Thom Hilton, Janey Wong