Toplobampo - What to have?!

I'm such a lucky person. For my birthday, my sweet BF is taking me to Toplobampo! I'm so excited - I really like Mexican cusine (I enjoyed the heck out of Salpicon) and have never been. I hate suffering from 'I wish I would have ordered that syndrome and was wondering if there were any dishes that LTHers love? I checked the menu (which I'm sure changes based on seasonality/availabilty, but any hints would be great) and everything sounds good! Any recs?

greygardens wrote:I hate suffering from 'I wish I would have ordered that syndrome and was wondering if there were any dishes that LTHers love? I checked the menu (which I'm sure changes based on seasonality/availabilty, but any hints would be great) and everything sounds good! Any recs?

Sounds like you're tailor-made for the chef's tasting. I've had it once and I thought it was exceptional, and a very good value as well. They are will show you what the tasting includes up-front and allow you to substitute any course.

Here is an account of the time I enjoyed the tasting menu:
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2961

Best,
Michael

Also, their Chiles Rellenos are legendary, but they always run out early due to popular demand.

stevez wrote:Also, their Chiles Rellenos are legendary, but they always run out early due to popular demand.

Isn't this from the Frontera menu? I don't think it's on the Topo menu. (Although I'm sure they'd serve it to you if they had 'em).

I checked their current menu online and I didn't see any chiles rellenos. Two of the dishes that piqued my interest involved pork and the other was a paella. In your experience has their treatment of these two items been good? Is there one that tends to be better?

greygardens wrote:I checked their current menu online and I didn't see any chiles rellenos. Two of the dishes that piqued my interest involved pork and the other was a paella. In your experience has their treatment of these two items been good? Is there one that tends to be better?

I have personally had neither. But, I have never had a "bad" dish there.

I think you'll make yourself crazy trying to discern the "best" dishes on the menu. It's an excellent restaurant and comparisions between two distinct dishes will really come down to a matter of personal taste.

Best,
Michael

Okay, you're right...maybe I'll just hog out and go for the tasting menu, like you suggested. That way I won't be suffering from any dining envy. Thanks for the suggestions!

greygardens wrote:Okay, you're right...maybe I'll just hog out and go for the tasting menu, like you suggested. That way I won't be suffering from any dining envy. Thanks for the suggestions!

Just make sure you read both the tasting menu selections as well as the regular menu. If there's a dish on the regular menu that you really want to try, they will substitute it in for you.

Enjoy the dinner and please report back.

Best,
Michael

and of course, don't forget to have a margarita or two... the best i've had...

the menu, i can't reall y remember what i've had.. .(duck comes to mind?). and i remember a trio of ceviche being good. its the kind of place where you can probably ask the waitor and they'll give you a pretty honest opinion based off of your tastes of what you might like.

The food in general is quite good. Not many items I didn’t like... Honestly though, when in doubt always ask the waiter/waitress what their favorite dish is. I was very impressed with their Puerco en Clemole Castellano (Pork Loin).

But for goodness sake, do not leave that place without getting one of their "Gold Margaritas". They're amazing...

~GS

Dined at the Frontera/Toplo complex for our dinner at Toplobampo. We arrived early, greeted by a friendly host and hostess and proceeded to have a drink at the bar. The bartender was friendly and steered us towards the gold margaritas - they were delicious. FYI, we were there at around 7:30 on a Wednesday and while the bar area was bustling, there were seats and tables to be had. We were seated on time, if not early (I was enjoying my margarita so much its not like I looked at my watch!).

Immediately, since we were good on cocktails, we were provided with fresh guacamole, topped with something akin to bacon. Fresh veggies were provided instead of tortilla chips. I am not a guacamole person, but I was game and tried it. It was fresh and delicious. Creamy avocado contrasting nicely with the crisp veggies. Maybe I just wasn't a guac person before because it wasn't as fresh and good as this!

We went with two ceviches to start. Both were incredibly tasty and fresh with the complex flavors of each fish standing out in each preparation. We sampled tartara de atun, aguacate y pepitas, a tuna tartare topped with avocado and some sort of seed - perhaps pumpkin? - and vuelve a la vida, which was a mixture of shrimp, oysters and avocado, topped with a creamy-ish red sauce. The presentation of both were lovely. I have to say, I am an ahi tuna addict, but I just loved the shrimp/oysters combo better. The sauce lightly coating the fish brought out the flavor without masking it in the least. That's not to say, however, that the tuna wasn't wonderful. I just thought that the oysters/shrimp combo had a great zing. With our ceviches, we had a half bottle of champagne - the type escapes me - as recommended by the sommelier. The pairing was just perfect.

For our meal, I had the arroz a la tumbada, which was a paella style dish with shrimp, scallops and other fish and BF had the pueroco en clemole castellano, which was pork tenderloin, served with some sort of delicious bread pudding. Again, the sommelier was spot on in her recommendation of a light pinot noir that would compliment both of our dishes (BF is the wine person in this relationship). The quality of the seafood was again peerless in my paella. The scallops were tender and almost buttery while being full and firm. BF chowed down all the pork before I got to sample a bit, but I did try the bread pudding. Fluffly, small little pillows of goodness, and again, not in the least bit mushy. The sauces in both dishes were complex and did nothing to mask the food, instead bringing out the flavors of the meat and seafood/fish, respectively.

Service was impeccable and friendly. Pricey, but worth it. A wonderful place for a special occasion. We will definitely be back for the more budget friendly Frontera!

greygardens,

Sounds like an awfully swell meal... thanks for the nice report... you make me want to get back there soon.

Antonius

P.S. Yes, in Mexican Spanish pepitas are pumpkin seeds.