I dearly miss Blue Mesa, the Chicago area’s first Southwestern restaurant, but I have to admit I do like the restaurant that has taken its place.
Patrick Concannon, the Charlie Trotter-trained chef who was the opening chef of Fahrenheit, has transformed Blue Mesa into a “nuevo Mexicano” restaurant called Don Juan on Halsted. It’s a sequel to the original Don Juan’s Restaurante in Edison Park, which is still going strong.
Both restaurants are family affairs; along with Patrick there are his sister, Josefa Danenberger, who is general manager and oversees the beverage menu, and their mother, Maria, who created Don Juan’s Restaurante 16 years ago. And both restaurants have very similar menus, whose highlights are Patrick Concannon’s contemporary turns with traditional Mexican ingredients.
But it is Don Juan on Halsted that has the best chance at stardom. The Halsted Street property is more spacious and attractive, offering amenities such as an outdoor courtyard, which should be very popular in summer. And it’s much more visible, just a block away from two major theaters on a well-traveled stretch of Lincoln Park that’s full of accomplished restaurants, including that of Concannon’s mentor, Trotter.
Concannon’s menu contains one fun twist: a taqueria category that lists eight tacos (all under $4) and three hefty burritos ($6 to $7). The smallish tacos are handy options for light eaters and the after-5 bar crowd, and Concannon hopes, by making the taqueria list available after the rest of the kitchen has closed, to lure post-theater diners and other late-nighters .
Predictably, these are not your run-of-the-mill tacos; creations include barbecued veal, grilled lamb with an earthy pasilla sauce, a shrimp-and-bacon taco and even a vegetarian (spinach, mushrooms and cheese) version, each served with roasted tomatillo salsa and a spicy salsa fresca . It’s tempting to spend an evening running through the taco menu and wolfing down the complimentary tortilla chips (with their addictive, six-chile-pepper salsa), but other delights await.
Among appetizers, for instance, there is a hefty crab cake, filled out with roasted corn niblets, green onion and white cheddar cheese and surrounded by a jalapeno-flecked tartar sauce. The ceviche del dia delivers the nuggets of citrus-cured fish above an ancho-chile cocktail sauce. There’s also oysters Juan Hogan — a tongue-in-cheek tribute to fellow chef and friend John Hogan — which are pan-fried and served over creamed spinach with a chipotle bearnaise sauce.
The chef’s sense of humor is further evident in the sesame-chipotle chicken wings, which essentially are Concannon’s take on buffalo chicken wings. The crispy wings are bathed in a chipotle sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds; to the side is a ramekin filled with a mild bleu cheese sauce, dusted with morita chile. This appetizer is messy eating — I’d serve hot towels after this one — but it’s a fun dish to share. Tuna tartare is an almost architectural, foodie-friendly appetizer. The mound of fresh tuna (enhanced with ginger and a touch of serrano pepper) is surrounded by long triangles of crispy baked flour tortilla, their tips pointing skyward; around the plate are nuggets of avocado, shoestrings of jicama and quarter-sized puddles of mango sauce.
Entrees are less showy but full of flavor. My favorite is the lamb shank, its tender meat drenched in a chipotle barbecue sauce that’s balanced by a sweet corn pudding. The crowd favorite might be the venison fajitas, earthy slices of venison with wild mushrooms and poblano peppers, alongside a vanilla-accented sweet-potato gratin.
The duck confit, two leg-thigh portions, offers plenty of delicious, well-textured meat, along with Anna potatoes laced with crumbled chorizo sausage. Garlic-roasted chicken breast with mole poblano, garlicky mashed potatoes and queso fresco is simple and delightful. Farm-raised ruby trout is served boneless but with the crisped skin intact, drizzled with cilantro butter.
Carne asada, grilled skirt steak with black beans and an enchilada suiza, is the only disappointing dish, and that because the meat’s texture is too stringy and chewy (not uncommon with skirt steak).
The dessert list is short and sweet. I like the flan, whose accompanying caramel sauce is deliberately overdone to add a bitter accent to the simple custard. The chocolate souffle cake is a tad dry but packed with flavor, served with scoops of chocolate ice cream and chocolate mousse. The apple puff-pastry tart is plenty moist and comes with cajeta (a goat-milk caramel) and cinnamon ice cream; a guava sorbet complements the pineapple-coconut tart.
The 15-bottle wine list should be longer, but the well-chosen, food-friendly bottles are modestly priced (all but two under $30). The tequila list is much better developed, offering plenty of reposado, anejo and premium anejo tequilas.
Service is generally on the ball and mostly keeps up with the lightning-fast kitchen, but pacing is something the operation has yet to master. The dining room, a pretty space with pale yellow and warm pumpkin walls and a terra-cotta tile floor, is also a work in progress; the old Blue Mesa tables, topped with beige linen, are being used until new polished-wood tables arrive in a couple of weeks.
Don Juan has made a nice beginning; it will be fun to watch it develop.
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Don Juan on Halsted
(star)(star)
1729 N. Halsted St.
312-981-4000
Open: Dinner Mon.-Sun.
Entree prices: $12-$20
Credit cards: A, DC, M, V
Reservations: Recommended
Noise: Conversation-challenged
Other: Wheelchair accessible; valet parking; smoking in bar only
Reviews are based on no fewer than two visits. The reviewer makes every effort to remain anonymous. Meals are paid for by the Tribune.
