Chic Eats - Antojeria La Popular

Last night, my friend Sean and I hit up a newish tapas joint in SoHo by the name of Antojeria La Popular. The concept is high-end Mexican Street Food. There were several things I liked about the restaurant immediately. It's downstairs location made it cozy and dark (which is why I have no photos - it was like, really dark). This place was relatively tiny - maybe 12 tables in the place. It was lively, and mostly a packed house by 9 PM. This place has star appeal.

We ordered some Sangria, which was topped by what is that . . . beer? I didn't know how to feel about that, but I had a Urban Daddy Perk for bottomless Sangria, so I felt I had to get my money's worth i.e. booze my face off within the two hour time limit indicated in the fine print. The deal also included the choice of seven menu items. For $48, this really was a good deal. We could select one ceviche (typically $6.95), one botana (side item, $4.95), two Mar Tapas ("from the sea" - seafood, $6.95), two Tierra Tapas ("from the land" - meat, $5.95) and a dessert to share.

For the majority of our order we just followed the black check marks on the menu which pointed out their most often ordered items. We placed our order and literally within 3 minutes a plate of food arrived. Holy shit they were fast. And it was weird that we received the tapas before ceviche. As you're supposed to at a restaurant, we began eating the food in front of us.

Our waitress came over with a dazed look on her face and said, "Uh. Did someone deliver this to the table?" to which I wish I would have been quick enough to respond, "No, I went and grabbed it from the kitchen". She explained that it wasn't actually our meal, but left it at the table, so we continued to eat. Score! We got about $20 worth of free tapas. There was a carnitas tostada topped with lettuce and crema, a pulled chicken with mole sauce, sesame seeds, queso fresco, lettuce and crema (we ended up ordering one of these ourselves) and a Jalisco Shrimp "taco" with a jicama shell (this was super clever), pasilla mayo, corn, a big avocado slice and chile powder (we also ordered one of these). I wish those poor, and probably now, very hungry, bastards would have ordered other stuff so we could have tried some more different items. But then again, stupid beggars can't be stupid choosers.

Our REAL meal included the following items -

Ceviche
Distrito Federal - with sirloin, shrimp and talapia in a triblin sauce with serrano chiles and red onion, accompanied by tiny blue corn tortillas. I liked this dish. It had a nice level of acid and the sirloin was super tender. This dish was however, super messy. It was impossible to eat the taco without spewing the juice all over the table, and considering this place doesn't give you plates, you're pretty SOL.

Botana
Puebla - Beets roasted in a subtle mole sauce with sesame seeds and crema. This was probably my favorite dish of the night. The beets were warm and hearty and they really soaked up the flavor of the rich mole sauce. I could have eaten these all night.

Mar
Jalisco - The same dish we got in our surprise meal. The mayo was a little too thick for my liking and it lacked seasoning, however the jicama tortilla was a nice change of pace, and I'm always a sucker for big hunks of fresh avocado.

Veracruz - with chorizo shrimp, chihuahua cheese, avocado and salsa verde on a flour tortilla. This was a little play on surf and turf. I really liked the cheese on this one. It was melted perfectly and went well with the smooth avocado. They shrimp was also well seasoned.

Tierra
Michoacan - This was another dish that we had already experienced in the pre-meal. The chicken was a bit dry, and both times the food came out not particularly warm. I'm not sure if that was intentional. This was a very beautiful dish however, and the toasted sesame seeds were a lovely touch.

Oaxaca - WTF CRICKETS atop avocado crema? I had to try it. This one was interesting but super skimpy. To be fair, I guess having a huge mouth full of bugs sounds pretty unappetizing. These little critters were crunchy - perhaps fried? They had a nice hit of salt and were complemented well by the avocado. I probably wouldn't order it again, but I'm glad that I gave it a try.

Dessert
Flan - The caramel sauce on this dish was baller, but the flavor and texture of the flan itself was a bit off. It was too grainy and eggy. Kind of a bummer. And like, you're a Mexican place? How do you eff up flan?

Overall, it was an interesting meal. Our waitress was nice enough, and did a great job keeping our glasses full. Me happy. I'm glad that they accidentally sent us an extra order of tapas because I think we would have been pretty hungry at the end of the meal otherwise. Also, these plates were terrible for sharing. How do you share a taco when the restaurant doesn't offer knives and plates? There was a lot of unintentional saliva swapping in this meal. If you're down with that, then give the place a try. The tapas are unique (cricket effing tacos and quesadillas y'all), and the vibe of the restaurant is cool as sh*t. The service was fine, and I felt like I got my money's worth on this trip (especially in the booze department.) They run a $40 pre-fixe that includes the same choice of seven dishes and drinks are a la carte. You could still do a nice tasting menu for a cheap price.

Would I make a special trip back? Hard to tell. The food is fresh and creative, which I totally appreciate, but it just didn't blow my mind. If I was in the area and wanted to grab a cocktail and a small (like really small) bite, I may pop back in. They do a lunch special for $14 that includes one tapa, one botana and a ceviche. That's a fair deal, and apparently their happy hour is fantastic. I think this place is still pretty young so I imagine they will work out their kinks in time.