It’s a good thing new restaurants keep opening. Otherwise, where would important people go to display their importance?
Just imagine: They’d have to talk loudly on their cellphones in some other equally inappropriate place, such as a funeral. They’d have to hug and kiss-kiss fellow important people at the nearest Safeway. They’d have to use the library to announce their next destination for the evening at decibels normally reserved for the final run in the World Series.
These days, the important people are obviously relieved to have LoLa as the place where they can just be their important selves. And judging by the crowds packing this nuevo Latino eatery nightly – Denver just doesn’t have that many important people – they’re letting the little people enjoy it, too.
LoLa is a lovely spot brought to us by Dave Query and Jamey Fader, in the space that was long ago Greens, then Hugh’s American Bistro, and most recently the charming but doomed Micole. The duo left a few of the Micole touches – the gauzy curtain separating two-top tables and the light fixtures – but redid the colors to evoke a seascape, fitting for a spot that does updated coastal Mexican cuisine.
The inviting lounge area was left as a drinking and snacking space, with comfy stools and a lighted, lime-green bar, and big, fat candles set up high provide gentle, flickering lights throughout. Tequila fans will drool like drunken worms at the nearly 100 possibilities adorning the glass shelves (alphabetized to make it easier to find favorites), and wine lovers will raise a glass to the very well-priced roster.
Query is a smart restaurateur, a successful fixture in the restaurant scene here for more than a decade, starting with his now-defunct Lickskillet in Gold Hill and then running through Q’s (which he sold), Zolo Grill, Rhumba, Jax Fish House and the closed Blue Plate Kitchen (all in Boulder) and the second Jax Fish House in LoDo.
 VIDEO |
|
|
Considering the economic climate, now isn’t the best time to open one’s fifth eatery, but Query and partner Fader wisely went with another trend. Mexican food that isn’t all about cheap cheddar and pork-packed green chile is finally all the rage – what took us so long? – and so the pair has assembled a menu of classics (carne asada, enchiladas) that come with a twist, along with a few novel dishes that offer something new. And about half of the time, they work.
For instance, the garnachas ($7), a term that gave us “nachas” or “nachos,” brought freshly fried tortilla chips next to juicy shrimp that tasted as though they’d been injected with garlic. A thin huitlacoche sauce (are we at the point where we know that wheat-la-ko-chay is a corn fungus?) was augmented by the heavy crema favored by Mexican cooks. And oysters Jalisciense ($2 each) were aptly named, since each little bivalve bugger came sweetened with the caramel-flavored tequila and topped with a crunchy salsa.
Everyone, important or not, has been raving about the tableside guacamole ($6), a dramatic affair that involves a server ceremoniously hand-mashing the avocado and adding the other ingredients (which diners get to choose). One time we let our guy do his thing and it came out too sour from lime, but give directions and only you can be blamed. Meanwhile, I’d give up a trip to the Yucatan to get the recipe for the roasted corn soup ($4 a cup), so sweet and earthy it was like corn syrup thinned with cream.
Other hits included the carne asada ($15), here rejuvenated by a chunky sweet potato hash, each piece of sirloin steak coated with a well-melded mole. And the seafood enchiladas suiza ($14) put the tortilla-wrapped fish under a blanket of rich, creamy sauce of tomatillos and the cascabel, a dark-red, nutty-flavored chile. The red rice on the side, however, tasted like the instant stuff you get at the grocery store.
And the other misses were by a mile: blue crab and wild mushroom empanadas ($7) sat on a bitter sauce reminiscent of shoe polish, and the goofy caldo de siete mares ($16) featured a too-fishy broth and a chile relleno that had been launched and sunk before we could save its crispy, cheesy goodness. Meanwhile, grilled silk snapper Veracruz ($15) was the perfect opportunity to show off the Mediterranean-style zippiness of that coastal cuisine, but its flavors fell flat.
And we’re not sure what happened (maybe we were just too darned unimportant), but on one visit we ordered four appetizers and were given only one before the entrees arrived. Too bad that one was a lame mahi mahi and pineapple ceviche (market price, which seems to depend on the Dow and whether Martha Stewart is happy or sad) that was all about pineapple and the size of a can of cat food.
There was a guy at the next table who actually had two – count ’em, two – cellphones arranged tidily beside him throughout his meal. Thank heavens both of them didn’t ring at the same time, or he might have knocked over his sweet corn flan ($5). Instead, he alternated between them, accurately telling the other party on one that he was eating a “killer flan” and telling the others that they had to come eat at LoLa before they all headed to a club later. “Yeah, this place is really cool,” he said. “Everybody’s here.”
And isn’t that what’s really important?
Where the in crowd goes
Restaurant: LoLa
Address: 1469 S. Pearl St.
Phone: 720-570-8686
Style: Nuevo Latino
Food: ** 1/2 (out of four)
Service: ** 1/2 (out of four)
Atmosphere: ***(out of four)
Price: Items from $7 to $16
Hours: 5 to 10 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday
Credit cards: All major
Number of visits: 3
Parking: Street
Noise: Look-at-me loud
Wheelchairs: Yes
Smoking: No
Watch Kyle Wagner’s weekly review at 5 a.m. and noon Friday on 9News.
