Unmasking upscale Mexico City cuisine
West Hartford’s El Santo pays homage to luchador
“We don’t do Tex-mex. It isn’t all about rice and beans and sombreros. Mexico City has a different culture. I love the little towns, but I am from the city. I have to bring my own concept.”
— Xiomara Zamudio, chef and co-owner of El Santo
El Santo is the newest restaurant in West Hartford, serving upscale Mexico City-inspired cuisine. Co-owner and chef Xiomara Zamudio is paying homage to her hometown, where her mother taught her to cook and where her family spent weekends watching luchador wrestling matches.
“We went to La Coliseo on Sundays to see the wrestling. It’s a big thing there. El Santo was the most famous of them all,” Zamudio said. “He wore a silver mask. Nobody ever saw his face. Even when he wasn’t wrestling he wore his mask.”
From 1934 to 1982, El Santo was a Mexican legend in the lucha libre ring. He also appeared in 52 lucha-themed movies and in comic books as a fictionalized, superhero version of himself. El Santo never appeared in public without his silver mask until a few days before his death in 1984.
El Santo’s decor is dominated by that masked face. A mural by Ben Keller shows El Santo in his glory days. The eatery’s masked-face logo presides in neon over the dining room. Silver masks dot the walls and luchador masks of other colors sit behind the bar. Tequila flight trays resemble a wrestling ring, the masked face in the center.
Zamudio opened El Santo with co-owners Alejandro Polanco, a native of Dominican Republic, and Peruvian-born Lilian Polanco, Yesenia Macias and Luis Araujo.
El Santo’s menu reflects the urbanity of Mexico City.
“We don’t do Tex-mex. It isn’t all about rice and beans and sombreros. Mexico City has a different culture. I love the little towns, but I am from the city. I have to bring my own concept,” she said.
Appetizers, from $5 to $14, range from traditional — chips and salsa, guacamole, quesadillas, nachos — to unconventional. Guacamole rudo ($14) has pork skin in it, and hanging quesadillas ($12) are tiny quesadillas hanging from a rope on a tray.
El Santo’s menu is probably the only one that points out, accurately, that a Caesar salad is “made in Mexico.” (The salad was created in Tijuana in 1924.) Any salad ($11 to $12) can be enhanced with chicken, steak, shrimp, scallops and octopus.
Octopus is a favorite ingredient at El Santo. Seafood dishes, from $24 to $36, include the platter La Coliseo, with shrimp, calamari, tuna and octopus; the El Santo Ceviche, with fish, shrimp, calamari and octopus; and seafood ceviche sampler, which brings in Peruvian influences inspired by Zamudio’s partners. Tostadas are served with shrimp, tuna and scallops, and Arroz con Mariscos features shrimp, clams, mussels, scallops and fish.
Meat dishes, from $17 to $38, include Cochinita Pibil, with slow-roasted pork shoulder; rib eye and octopus casserole; and chicken flautas and enchiladas with mole sauce. Zamudio said she doesn’t serve ground meat, except in the “Mexicana Burger,” with pineapple, guacamole, jack cheese and chipotle sauce. El Santo also serves various tacos, such as rib eye, Baja fish, and birria, from $20 to $24.
Zamudio is especially proud of the chic bar, managed by Atelio Lopez, who also managed the bar at Frida.
“There are some crazy drinks. Mexico City bars compete with New York City bars for being cosmopolitan,” Zamudio said.
The emphasis is on tequila and mezcal, with a variety of margaritas. Zamudio’s favorite is the Pura Uva Mami, made with Casa Dragones Blanco, elderflower liqueur, lemon juice, raspberry puree and Prosecco. Others are the smoky or spicy Diablo, Green Devil and Red Hot Moon, and the Red Riding Hood, with red fruits.
The bar vibe is summed up by another neon sign: “La Ultima y los Vamos,” which means “The last one, and then let’s go.”
El Santo, at 970 Farmington Ave., is open for dinner seven days a week — 3 to 9 p.m. Sunday, 3 to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday — with lunch hours coming in the summer. facebook.com/elsantowh.