3 days ago
At New York's Casa Bond Noho the Regional Diversity Of Mexican Food Is In Full Flourish
Most of the ingredients for dishes like tacos gobandador at Casa Bond are imported from Mexico.
The recent evolution of Mexican food in New York has been gratifying, not so much because of deviation from the classics but by the refining of them and giving them a modern twist in terms of color, presentation and better ingredients. In the case of Casa Bond Noho, the majority of those ingredients are what owners Rodrigo, Abrajan, Mike Khuu and Luis Villanueva pride themselves on importing from Mexico.
Well-set tables within a modern Mexican design provide a convivial ambience to Casa Bond.
Their last restaurant was Casa Tulum at the South Street Seaport, which I very much enjoyed. The new place in NoHo is about the same size, with a happy long bar that leads to covered tables, enchanting lighting, potted ferns and comfortable chairs. The piped-in music can be annoying and is unnecessary.
The menu draws from Tulum, the Yucatán, Baja California and Sinaloa, starting with a well-textured guacamole with chunks of lobster, pistachio nuggets, a dash of habanero, jicama and cilantro, to be scooped up with totopos corn crackers. It goes very well with a nicely crafted Margarita.
Guacamole is full of textures from pine nuts and lobster.
There are three ceviches (you can taste all of them for $49), and I especially favored the one with translucent fluke, cucumber lime, cilantro, arbol chile with a crunch of sea salt. Seasoning is everything at Casa Bond.
Enchiladas Suisses come with a green mole sauce.
The true measure of a Mexican kitchen depends on the quality of its tortillas, and Casa Bond's are absolutely superb––the right thickness, the right puffiness, the right chew and a good flavor of corn or wheat. The latter enwraps a quesadilla of slowly cooked short rib braised in Negro Modelo beer, with shredded, melting cheddar and morita adobo sauce. The enchilada s suizas are a substantial meal, full of abundant chicken, a pretty lacing of green tomatillo, and creamy serrano salsa, with a blend of melted cheeses.
Aqua chile negro toasts at Casa Bond
I hadn't expected ravioli on a Mexican menu but they're made with huitlacoche,ricotta, white truffle oil, Grana Padana cheese and fresh epazote and are a revelation of flavors that encourage more idea like this.
There are three dishes meant for two but will easily serve a table of four, like the juicy confit duck carnitas with alubias beans, pickled onions and a spark of jalapeño.
ou may sample three tangy ceviches on the menu at Casa Bond.
For those who prefer seafood the Baja fish (for two) is a mahi mahi with cucumber mango coleslaw and habanero aïoli, while the camarones shrimp are well seasoned and served with wild rice and a puree of plantains.
Every one of these dishes expands the dimensions of traditional examples you may have had elsewhere but rarely with such a synthesis of sweet, sour, salty, hot and other flavors along with wonderful textures, soft, oozing, crackling and crunchy.
This carries through desserts with a lava chocolate cake with pine nuts, mole and white sesame seeds ice cream, as well as light, crunchy churros fritters with the added surprise of caramel mousse along with the usual chocolate dipping sauce,
Casa Bond's wine list is sufficient for those who don't want one of the exotic cocktails or beer, and includes at least one Mexican wine from Guadalajara.
One always enters a Mexican restaurant with certain expectations for certain favorite dishes, but Casa Bond goes way beyond the expected by adding to the rich diversity of regional cuisines of a kind one will only find here.
CASA BOND NOHO
334 Bowery
917-639-3009
Open nightly. Sat. & Sun. For lunch.
