Ixim serves palate-grabbing Mexican dishes
My eyebrows shot toward my hairline at first bite of the charro beans at Ixim, a brand-new counter kiosk in downtown’s Bravery Chef Hall.
The porky bloom of bacon and chorizo seemed to fill my cranium, and the crunch of the pork-skin cracklings floating on the chile-gigged tomato broth rattled my skull.
A whole universe lurked in that bowl of pinto beans. A dish that can be an empty gesture when churned out at volume, by a restaurant that doesn’t much care, here crashed through the barrier of three dimensions right into a fourth.
That’s what can happen at Ixim’s considerable best. Chef Tim Reading and his sous chef, Rebecca Aguirre, work from a tight, seasonally changing menu of regional Mexican cuisine using many local ingredients. Though the food can be a little uneven, it is full of promise.
Fideo, that homey Mexican vermicelli staple, emerged from their open kitchen resonating with deep marine harmonies. The skinny, pan-toasted noodles are simmered with a vibrant shellfish and fish stock, touched with chile arbol and finished with lots of jumpy lemon zest.
The sea creatures tossed into that nest are cooked individually, so that each is at its best. Pearly Gulf shrimp
with a saffronlike shiver of iodine share the bowl with bouncier octopus plus … “Look, there’s lobster!” exclaimed my dinner guest. “And it’s perfect.”
He extended a hunk for me to sample. He was right: The meat was smooth and slippy, rather than grainy and overcooked, as is all too often the case. While chef Reading may have earned his Mexican spurs as executive chef at Hugo Ortega’s Caracol, he’s a Massachusetts native and a classically trained chef who knows his way around a lobster.
The team that runs Ixim — which is the Mayan word for corn — started with Jonathan Gallardo, who presides over the cocktail bar Secret Garden, just down the corridor in Bravery Chef Hall. He recruited Reading, who in turn signed up Aguirre, with whom he had worked at Caracol.
One of my favorite Ixim ideas is changing up the ceviches and aguachiles to take advantage of seasonal fruits and herbs, and to reflect whatever is freshest from the Gulf of Mexico. If the chef can’t get great Gulf fish like tilefish or snapper, though, he’ll go with whatever’s best that day.
Halibut starred in Ixim’s ceviche the day I went. It was beautifully handled: cut in medium-size squares, the better to show off the meaty satin of the texture, the clean fresh bite, and to soak up just enough lime and serrano in their brief pass through the citrus bath (almost a leche de tigre) pooled at the bottom of the dish.
The fish fairly sparkled against small cubes of watermelon and pineapple, freshened with cucumber, avocado and crescents of red onion. It left me eager to return to sample Ixim’s shrimp aguachile in cucumber-serrano chile water.
Ixim’s fried lamb-andpork meatballs, Albondigas Fritas, were just too salty for me to appreciate fully. I loved the base of chipotle and avocado purée, though, and the unexpected punctuation of black cumin seeds scattered over a garnish of lightly pickled vegetables.
Fierce salt content also subverted my enjoyment of the plump house-made chorizo links that came on an otherwise captivating parillada platter. The board, at $38, was plenty of dinner for two people. Excellent sliced grilled sirloin of local beef came with the sausages and the unexpected treat of marinated lamb belly rolled up like fat chops, with a tang of wild hillside pastures that took you on a little journey.
It was fun to mix and match the meats with the garnishes of avocado, grilled onion and purslane plus any of four salsas, then roll it all up in housemade corn tortillas. A green salsa flecked with darker green epazote leaf was a particular thrill, as wild in its way as the lamb belly.
I’ll be back for the roasted chicken with pipian rojo, the picanha of sirloin cap and the citrus-marinated flank steak with crispy potatoes, grilled calabacita and more of the headturning salsa epazote.
At least, I think I will, because the seasonality at play here means the four apps, four “platos fuertes” and three sides will most likely morph over time.
We grabbed suitable glasses of wine from Bravery’s wall of wines on tap, which always has some good selections, including supple reds from the Pacific Northwest. You can taste before committing, a plus.
Gallardo also plans to match Ixim’s food with cocktails from his nearby bar, but those weren’t on offer yet when I visited, just weeks into the restaurant’s life.
Seating is first come, first served at the counter seats. But you can take your food to one of the hall’s central tables or booths, if you like. Or do what I did and text Ixim at 832-350-6595 to reserve your seats at the counter — the better to chat with the chefs and cooks and watch your meal taking shape.
Ixim’s crew is very personable, right down to the charming young dishwasher; and Reading loves to talk technique and ingredients. That makes the counter the place to be.