Thursday night I joined a dear friend for a tasting menu at MITA which opened at the end of 2023 to rave reviews for its vegan cuisine from Chef Miguel Guerra who originally hails from Venezuela. Chef Guerra and his team have created an intimate warm space that really entices you to linger and enjoy. The Tasting menu runs $150 and has four "acts" (Opening, First, Second & Third)each consisting of 3 or 4 courses for a total of 14 "plates." There are also a la carte menus available. On arrival I knew the restaurant was vegetarian but was totally wowed and surprised that it was vegan. I have been to many vegan restaurants and the food can tend to be heavier, but this was a dream meal making me want to come back for more.
Each course has a background and often relates to a specific Latin American country of origin as well; stories abound and the team love to tell you the reason for each course making it more exciting, truly educational and ultimately really delicious.
Houssam led our team and brought over the drink menu and wine list. There is a pairing option, but we knew for all these courses we would need more than 5 pours, so we started with a Poblano Margarita which was very tasty and had a slight hint of spice from the peppers, though very mild. Our first wine was a Prieto Picudo Rose "Arrostos del Pendon" from Raul Perez in Castilla y Loen. The grape called Leon was totally new to me and had a depth much larger than your usual rose which we loved and worked well some of the intense flavors as well.
Our red was another grape I did not know, Listan Negro from Lanzarote in the Canary islands "Los Bermejos" 2022 is grown in volcanic soil and you can taste it in the terroir which is so earthy. I am excited to look for this wine when we visit Lanzarote in November!
the first taste was called "Copan" after the Mayan ruin in Honduras and was a caramel wrapped in an edible rice paper(I started to unwarp the treat and Houssam told me to eat the whole thing!) sitting on a plate covering a small aromatic smoker that you lifted up to get the aromatic and healing fumes that welcome you. I remember doing a number of these Mayan ceremonies in our travels and it was a giant throwback to when we visited Lago di Atitlan in Guatemala and got to meet the local god, Maximon, who is always kept smoking his cigarettes daily by the lucky chosen local family!
A drink followed called PAPELON that was anon-alcoholic rum with herbaceous botanicals and a piece of Sugar Cane with Compressed Finger lime in a stick that you sucked on and dunked into the drink as well.
The third portion of the "opening Act" was the course that set us raving for the entire evening. Venezuela is featured in 5 types on mini-arepas (that Pastry chef Monica made into perfection): plantain, smoked potato, yuca, corn and whole wheat. There were three separate dipping sauces you could use on these to make so many taste combinations:
Sour cream with hearts of palm, cashew and chili oil was first and I would have sworn this was dairy, but the chef came out and said it was vegan sour cream....WOW!! It was our favorite of the three dips. Guasacaca was a guacamole with herb oil that reminded me of a not-spicy chimichurri sauce and Chontaduro was palm fruit cooked with pineapple and cocoa.
Act II started with PACHAMAMA, again a native theme in many Latin countries of "earth mother" here with a glass box holding offerings under the Yuba crisp topped with Black Bean Mole, Celery root and ahi amarillo.
Next was another of our favorite courses and not to be missed if you head to MITA, the ARRACACHA is a to die for soup made from potato and yuca with fava beans(mixed with spices for a slight kick), sweet plantains and parsnips that has a mushroom dashi poured on top tableside. There is a slash of onion ash atop the foam that tops the rich soup below (of course, all the photos are on FB).
We moved to a much lighter dish with the Watermelon Crudo with fermented carrots, crispy wild rice, cilantro, charred avocado and leche de tigre--think vegan ceviche on crack! Our rose wine was divine with this.
This was followed by what was called "A quick trip to Mexico" with a Hoja Santa Tortilla with marinated squash, crispy kale, mole verde and Huitlacoche which we rolled up and just simply loved the flavors and textures that abounded. Towels came to wipe our fingers.
The Second Act began with a dish from Brazil called ACARAJE which was a bean croquette with peanut sauce paired with a ceviche of young coconut, pineapple, cachaca with coconut leche de tigre and a tapioca crisp.
Causa is a Peruvian staple (here with a Japanese flavor) and this was an amazing one as it is based on potato and egg (not vegan), but I could taste "egg" in this one made with hearts of palm, crisp seaweed, tomato, sake and a Huancaina sauce.
Pearl Barley was next with Grilled Maitake Mushroom, Charred banana puree, peas and pea shoots loaded with crispy shallots in the vein of a Venezuelan soffrito.
The final course of the second act was a Mushroom terrine/Asado Negro/Grilled Endive/Parsley emulsion/Soy crema with Potato & Swiss Chard...don't ever say that vegetarian food won't fill you up! We were loving our red wine by this point as well.
The third act started with RASPAO, called a palate cleanser, it was a Canary & Honeydew Melon Granita with basil, dill, tarragon and parsnip caramel. Kepp this one on your list for a wining palate cleanser! UYUNI are the salt flats of Bolivia and this dish was served on a glass enclosed miniature salt "flat" with Yuca Tapioca, Chirimoya(custard apple sorbet), Api Morado (purple corn flour from Bolivia) and Singani, a fruit unique to that region and we fell in love! i always love custard apple, but this took it to the best heights ever!! Don't forget the chocolate tuille!
The last course was called ARTISTS:"BOTERO" Cocada Dulce de Leche and was served on a plate with a Botero drawing served by pastry chef Monica with petit fours of sweet caramelized coconut and parsnip!! YES< PARSNIP!...they are indeed sweet and worked brilliantly here.
We loved this entire experience and could not stop showring praises on Chef Miguel, but eventually had to leave...knowing we will be back for more at MITA!
