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Eater
5 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Eater
This Taco Omakase in Stillwater Is Unlike Anything You'll Find in Minnesota
When chef Cristian De Leon came to the United States from Guatemala 23 years ago, he got a job cooking at an iconic restaurant that lives in the hearts and minds of Millennial Midwesterners, the Mall of America's mist-filled, tropical-themed Rainforest Cafe. He worked his way through a handful of other restaurants after that, including other Mall of America locales — one of which is where he met his wife, fellow restaurant veteran and immigrant by way of Mexico City, Karen De Leon. His resume also included a stint at Minneapolis's Icehouse, which is where he discovered the creativity that chef's tables allow. Years later, the De Leons established their own unassuming yet totally standout taco shop El Sazon Tacos & More in a suburban gas station, followed by a brick-and-mortar restaurant in south Minneapolis El Sazon Cocina & Tragos, all while raising three children. So when their real estate broker asked if they wanted to open yet another restaurant — this time in Stillwater, a small riverside tourist town some 30 minutes from Minneapolis — they didn't hesitate. The opportunity for the creativity of a chef's table had finally arrived. Despite being fresh off the opening of El Sazon Cocina y Tragos in Minneapolis, 'we took the risk and said let's do it,' Cristian De Leon says. 'I always had in my mind to do something from my roots ... to do something similar to what we're doing in Minneapolis but a little bit more cultural.' The result is Xelas by El Sazon, which opened early this year. Nestled in yet another unassuming location (a frontage road far from Stillwater's touristy downtown), not only is Xelas a blend of Cristian and Karen's shared Mayan ancestry, but it also offers what's likely the first taco omakase in Minnesota. It's part of a growing trend in taco tasting menus cropping up across the Midwest that speaks to a deeper exploration of Latin American culture and cuisine mirrored in the movement to raise awareness about traditions like nixtamalization. 'All of the dishes are like what we eat at home — food that's a mix of our two cultures,' Cristian says. 'We eat between Guatemala, Mexico, and Minnesota.' Just a month or so out from Xelas's opening, the restaurant was shiny and fresh in its newness but already busy and buzzing with a mix of patrons, some speaking Spanish, some speaking English. You know when a restaurant makes you forget where you are? Xelas does that despite the irrepressible chaos of what it means to be in the United States today. The space: What's now Xelas was previously a Thai restaurant until the De Leons and their contractor got a hold of it. They wanted a bright and airy space with plenty of natural light, and that's exactly what they got. From the host stand, diners walk into a wide-open dining room where wooden tabletops flanked with white chairs are warmly illuminated by rattan lighting. To the right lies a bar that sits in front of a cavernous back bar with cutouts that shine under recessed lighting and, to the left, the chef's table where Cristian serves up taco omakase. Throughout the space, the walls display colorful paintings from artists with roots in Latin America from Venezuela to Chile. The food: Xelas is doing something entirely its own. While the dishes may be Mayan by way of Guatemala and Mexico, they're not exactly the traditional dishes that Latine communities might expect. Minnesotans with an affinity for burritos and ground beef tacos won't find that here either. 'Our challenge right now is to try to educate people and send the right message about what it is we're doing,' the chef says. Luckily, the dishes speak for themselves. The hilachas are a traditional Guatemalan beef, carrot, and potato stew that Cristian grew up eating and the last dish his mom made for him during her final trip to Minnesota before she died. At Xelas, Cristian and his sous chef, Jose Cortes, have transformed it into short rib with a chile guaque demi-glace served with a root vegetable pavé. 'If you go to my house, my mom's hilachas are going to be different from your mom's hilachas,' Cristian says of the variation. The pepián, too, takes a different route here — rather than making this traditional chicken stew with pepitoria (roasted and ground squash seeds), it's crafted with the pepitas (pumpkin seeds) that are plentiful in Minnesota. The star of the show, though, is the taco omakase — an eight-course delight for $80 per person — comprising seven savory dishes and one sweet (currently a choco taco made with a cocoa tortilla that encases a chocolate mousse paired with popcorn and a passionfruit gel). As of early this spring, the omakase included an al pastor made with pork belly and grilled pineapple, the quesabirria that made the gas station spot a success, and an infladita carrying poached lobster floating in aguachile sauce, to name a few. 'We're using a lot of dry chiles. We're using quinoa, squash, and grains,' Cristian says of what drives the Mayan flavors home. The drinks: Dare I say the best part of the taco omakase was the drink pairings? If you're worried about overdoing it, fear not — the eight pairings for $35 a person are just the right size for sampling and feature two nonalcoholic courses. Bar director Zoilo Ruacho-Marquez and bar manager Daniel Torres serve creative cocktails that include white wine blends paired with pink flowers, a take on Mexico City's Batanga with yuzu, and a michelada made with the tomato water that drains off of pico de gallo. The final pairing is the Tal Vez Un Carajillo, a zero-proof version of the popular espresso drink made with rum and cacao bitters. The vibe: What comes brightly shining through the omakase experience is the glimmering pride the team takes in each and every one of the dishes and drinks they present. Through short and sweet yet nuanced and informative insights into the cultural and culinary traditions that inspire the chef's table offerings, as well as creative and unique flourishes, the taco omakase becomes a true experience. When you dine at a shared table at that price, you might get seated with a coterie of golf-loving, Louis Vuitton-toting landlords unaware of the basic civic discourse taking place in their own communities, which can be horrifying or endlessly entertaining depending on how you see it. The verdict: De Leon puts it this way: 'Xelas is more than a restaurant — it's an invitation to experience a deeper flavor of Latin America.' In a metro area swimming in James Beard nominations every year and a city teeming with modern takes on traditional foods, the heart, soul, individuality, and originality that Xelas pulls off is no small feat. It's simply a fact that what you encounter at Xelas just can't be found anywhere else — it's a glimpse into the beautiful Guatemalan and Mexican family that Cristian and Karen have created right here in Minnesota and the dishes that have come from it. And that's what makes Xelas the destination dining spot that it is. When an occasion worthy of a tasting menu comes around or an itch to exit the Twin Cities strikes, the drive to Xelas is a fun adventure. For those local to or visiting Stillwater, Xelas stands far out from and above the largely American dining that otherwise abounds — go omakase if you want a dining experience or stick to the a la carte menu for creative dishes at a range of price points for a more in-and-out affair. Xelas by El Sazon is located at 1180 W Frontage Rd. in Stillwater; open 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; reservations are available on Tock.
Otago Daily Times
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Monochrome take on American life
Alonso Ruizpalacios' new movie defies the times, featuring undocumented aliens and abortion, Ryan Gilbey writes. In the early '00s, Alonso Ruizpalacios was not the gifted, ingenious director he is today — the man behind A Cop Movie , a slippery psychodrama that breaks the laws of documentary, and the new La Cocina , starring Rooney Mara as a waitress at a hectic New York restaurant. Back then, he wore baggy khaki shorts and welcomed customers to the Rainforest Cafe, its plastic foliage and animatronic wildlife, in Piccadilly Circus. "Hi, I'm Alonso and I'll be your safari guide today," he would say. "You guys been here before? No? Well, this is Bamba, our gorilla. Occasionally there will be rain showers, but — hey — don't be afraid, you won't get wet!" The film-maker grimaces at the memory. "You had to give the whole spiel," he says. Ruizpalacios, who was raised in Mexico City by parents who are both doctors, is 47, with dense stubble, curly black hair and chunky-framed Harry Palmer-style glasses. Give or take the same lopsided smile, he doesn't look much like the budding matinee idol in his Rada headshot. "I got into acting because I wanted to be a director," he says. "And I needed to understand actors." They're all nuts, right? "They're strange creatures for sure," he replies diplomatically. "Frail, vain, brave. Full of contradictions. I could say many things. I don't want to say the wrong thing." After all, he is married to one: Ilse Salas, who starred in his 2014 debut, Gueros , a road movie that goes stylishly in circles, and Museo , with Gael Garcia Bernal as one of the perpetrators of a real-life museum heist. While studying at Rada, Ruizpalacios worked to earn his keep, which is where the Rainforest Cafe came in. He can draw a direct line between that experience and La Cocina . For starters, the film is adapted from Arnold Wesker's 1957 play The Kitchen , which he first read while at Rada. "Wesker's play made the restaurant seem tolerable. But during my first few weeks in the job, I would have nightmares every night, imagining I was still at work and the orders were running late." Directors and chefs aren't so dissimilar, and he concedes that there is a "militarised" hierarchy to film sets and kitchens alike. "But I'm no Gordon Ramsay." La Cocina is a lively, relentless portrait of American working life, set during one day below stairs at The Grill , with its staff of immigrants, many of them undocumented, from the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Morocco. Among them is the sous chef Pedro (the director's regular collaborator Raul Briones), who is in love with Julia, played by Mara. Isn't there a risk of imbalance when a performer like Mara joins a cast of less feted or recognisable actors? "There is," he admits, "but I wanted a Hollywood star because that's how Julia is in Pedro's mind. Though she's actually very grounded." What about Mara herself? Don't A-listers come with entourages, even their own chefs to rival the fictional ones of La Cocina ? "We kept all that to a minimum," he says with a knowing smile. "We weren't a big production; we shot all the interiors in Mexico. And Rooney is very grounded, just like Julia. As one of my teachers at Rada used to say: 'Nobody s**** jam'." La Cocina is shot in a dreamy monochrome, which calls to mind Coppola's Rumble Fish . As do the film's absurdist touches: an unseen rat tugging a pizza along the street, or a malfunctioning soda machine that floods the submarine-like kitchen with Cherry Coke as if in some sugary spin on Das Boot . Ruizpalacios chose black-and-white to help render the film timeless. "You don't know when it's taking place. That's why there are no mobile phones. I wanted something beyond realism." But that approach was also one of several sticking points for potential financiers. "Black-and-white was a big no for everyone we went to." Even after the success of Roma , directed by Alfonso Cuaron. " Roma is an anomaly, I think, because Cuaron is such a big name. "People were also put off because I insisted on Raul in the lead role instead of a star. And this is a kitchen film with no food porn. And half of it is in Spanish." Don't forget it also has one character contemplating an abortion. "A studio we went to said: 'Can we not have the abortion storyline?'. I was, like: 'That's one of the main parts!'. It's insane that we're still talking about a woman's right to choose." Surely the popularity of other frantic kitchen-based dramas such as The Bear and Boiling Point must have assuaged backers' concerns. "We were already in pre-production when The Bear came out. I still haven't seen it: I didn't want it to influence what we were doing." Had La Cocina been shot in colour, minus the abortion storyline, and with, say, Jacob Elordi as Pedro, there would still be no expunging the text's inherent anti-capitalist bent. "It's about how the capitalist machine leaves no room for dreams," Ruizpalacios says, alluding to the central sequence in which the kitchen staff are overwhelmed by orders during the lunchtime rush. "At the beginning, they're talking about other things, little inner conflicts. As it progresses, there's no room for the personal, and it's all orders, orders, orders. It shows how relationships are obliterated by the rhythm of capitalism and work, and the pressure to keep the production line going. That was one of the scenes that kept me thinking about the play all these years. But the feedback we got was opposed to this kind of film, which criticises the American working ethos, and the way migrants are treated. That makes it an uncomfortable watch." If the situation was bad when Ruizpalacios and I met last year, a month before the US election, it has grown immeasurably graver since then. The director has been busy finishing a new script: his adaptation of Juan Jose Saer's western The Clouds , about psychiatric patients being led across the desert to a new hospital, which he has transposed to the late 1840s and the Mexican-American war. There are even bigger problems afoot. La Cocina represents a list of Donald Trump and JD Vance's pet hates: undocumented immigrants, abortion, anti-capitalism. How does it feel to be releasing the film into such a hostile world? "I think it only makes it more urgent and poignant," he says. "I see a lot of caution ahead in the US. I see peers who are careful about what they say, what they put out. As a foreigner, it's different because I have no skin in that game." Presumably he still wants to work in the United States, though: he recently directed three episodes of the Star Wars spin-off series Andor . "Yeah, but working in Mexico, too, gives you a different perspective. There's a whole life beyond Hollywood." — The Observer
National Post
25-04-2025
- National Post
9 places to visit in Canada that rival popular U.S. destinations
Article content Article content Instead of visiting the coastal peninsula of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, you can visit Prince Edward Island, a maritime wonderland on the East Coast. Article content Like Cape Cod, P.E.I. offers picturesque harbours, quaint towns and pristine beaches, as well as a maritime character that promises fresh seafood, friendly people and an abundance of lighthouses. Article content Despite being Canada's smallest province (it takes roughly three hours to cross the island from end to end), P.E.I. offers tons to do, with ocean adventures, wildlife viewing and cultural experiences on offer here. Article content Article content Article content If old-world charm is what you're after, instead of visiting New Orleans, Louisiana, head to Quebec City. Article content 'With its rich French heritage and lively festivals like the Quebec Jazz Festival in June, Quebec City evokes a distinct cultural charm that is sure to attract music lovers and history enthusiasts,' says Skyscanner. Article content In Old Quebec, you can stroll cobblestone streets and take in over 400 years of history in what is the birthplace of French in North America and the only fortified town north of Mexico. Article content A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Old Quebec is filled with colonial architecture, shops, and dining. Petit-Champlain, a popular part of Old Quebec close to the banks of the St. Lawrence River, offers one-of-a-kind boutiques and restaurants. Article content Like New Orleans, Quebec City also offers many outdoor experiences nearby, including kayaking and canoeing excursions on the Bras-du-Nord River, wildlife watching in Jacques-Cartier National Park, and taking in waterfalls like the spectacular Montmorency Falls. Article content Article content Article content You don't have to travel far to find casinos, entertainment, restaurants and a lively strip — and you don't have to travel to Las Vegas, either. Instead, try visiting Niagara Falls. Article content Niagara Falls offers everything from games to rides and shows, so it's not hard to see why some refer to it as the 'Vegas of Canada.' Article content 'Niagara Falls is a world-class destination offering the perfect mix of adventure, relaxation, and indulgence,' says Skyscanner. Article content Clifton Hill, a tourist promenade by the falls, is where you'll find most of the action. Attractions here include themed restaurants like Canada's only Rainforest Cafe, funhouses, mazes, a wax museum, themed mini golf, a speedway, a midway with over 300 arcade games, and more. There are also a number of restaurants and hotels located in the area.
