Comparative dining.
Tonight, we went to Distrito to celebrate Mary’s birthday, and we did a beautiful thing. We ordered every dish in 3 sections — ceviches, moles and “traditionales” (enchiladas, tamales, queso and quesadillas.)
Mary asked me the other day what my favorite restaurant in the city was, and I said Ansill. All-time favorite cheese plate? Clearly the one at Django back in the day. Favorite brunch ever? Lacroix. All of them promote the comparative dining experience. The delights of sharing writ large, as it were.
It allows me a certain clarity of thought regarding food, not just in the moment, but overall. When you go out to eat, (at least you hope that) everything is better than you could or would make it at home. And so, unless you are dining out every night of the week, it can be hard to discover what you really like. You might think, well, I don’t go out that much, and I know I like the steak, so I will get that. One bad dish can turn you off an ingredient for years. Caution can keep you limited to the periphery of the menu. When you can, or rather are required to, just get a taste, you have the opportunity to try the stuff you might not be daring enough to order if you got a whole dish of it.
Anne will tell you, never order the chicken at a restaurant, because the chef knows that’s what the cautious people order, and don’t bother making anything special of it. And even tonight, ordering a whole category was ideal, because you are always tempted to avoid the risky choices in a group, to please the largest number of people. And those corners of the menu are actually the best things to order — the things the chef feels passionate enough about to put on there, even though it might make people nervous, and they won’t sell a lot of them.
Distrito is only a place to go with close people. Cheers to el Goncho, my “date” for tonight (bda was out with his parents, who just came in from ABQ), as we had to split everything. He’s the greatest! So fun.
So, in conclusion. I can tell you, without hesitation, what I would recommend you get should you go to Distrito. The octopus ceviche, the duck mole, and the kobe beef tacos. Yum!
