“Where was the best Mexican food that you had in Tucson, Amie?” a friend asked me after I recently got back from the southern Arizona city.
“Actually, it was in Phoenix,” I replied. I’ve been a couple times to Tucson already and while it does no-frills Sonoran Mexican well and has a couple places for fine(r) dining that I like and one for tacos (Seis Kitchen), nowhere has a Mexican menu quite as great as what we had at Chico Malo in Phoenix.
It’s in downtown Phoenix in a very touristy area, a place you’d probably only go before a show or basketball game at Talking Stick Arena or if you worked in the area. But from the first sip of my real margarita (which was well made even at the impressive happy hour prices – no corners cut) and the first scoop of the guacamole in the salsa roja, guac and chunky hummus trio (Chico Malo’s hummus = salsa yucateca + pistachio tahini + epazote + hominy), I was dancing a joyous cerebral bachata.
Then I did what I normally do and ordered way too much food, which worked out perfectly:
DUCK CONFIT TAMALE
duck fat masa + cherry pecan mole
aji amarillo + roasted corn + queso fresco
fresnos + banana leaf
DUCK BREAST AL PASTOR
served on a hot stone
guajillo & mesquite smoked duck + fresno
jalapeño + onion + raw salsa verde + cotija
habanero tortilla
And I tried some of my mom’s:
SHRIMP DIABLO
wild caught mexican white shrimp
heirloom potato + charred lime + aguachile
My dad loved his:
CHILI COLORADO
shredded beef + guajillo + garlic + oregano
crema + queso fresco + flour tortilla
And my brother enjoyed the “award-winning”:
PORK VERDE
niman ranch pork shank + tomatillo
blistered chile + blue corn tortilla
I meant to order the frijoles negro, but in retrospect that would have been overkill. I was pretty busy with my duck breast, since it came on a sizzling platter above a wooden chest that included a drawer of heirloom blue corn tortillas (they swapped in corn ones for the flour ones the dish comes with) – homemade and freshly pressed and grilled.
Yes, every duck breast main is served on a wooden chest. Those servers must have biceps of steel.
The duck breast itself was exceptional (sorry for the photo – this was after a margarita):
I skipped the cotija cheese to make it dairy free and I definitely didn’t taste a lot of habañero. It was more on the smoky-sweet-sour side than spicy.
To the top right of the duck in that photo is the duck tamale. We figured we should double up on duck, because that’s always a good idea. So we got the shredded confit leg meat in the tamale and the breast on the wooden drawer.
And while the tamale wasn’t as “boom” flavourful as the duck breast, I kept coming back for another bite and then another bite. The cherry pecan mole (chocolate-free, I was told – so I could eat it without fear of being up all night from caffeine) and a tingle of aji amarillo plus savoury roasted corn made this an umami-filled winner.
Then, since there were five minutes left in happy hour, I ordered a paloma:
And from then on, the night became a bit softer. And my stomach was full. And my body was happy in only the way a great meal can satisfy my soul, it seems. Too much waxing poetic about Mexican food? Fine, moving on.
I’d definitely recommend Chico Malo, especially for gluten-free diners. The server checked that everything was safe for me, right down to telling me that the tortilla chips were fried in a fryer that also fried things with gluten, so I could avoid them if I wanted to. I did, so I appreciated that.
And she checked with the kitchen on potential substitutes for things like farro in the achiote brick chicken (easily swappable without wrecking the dish) and michelada in the shrimp ceviche (not easily swappable). Adn while they use an Ommission Gluten-Free lager in the green chili chicken, I did my own sleuthing online duriong dinner to find that it’s “gluten-removed,” which means it’s officially gluten-free by parts per million of gluten, but not wheat free, so I avoided that, too. Still, it’s nice that they state that it’s a gluten-free beer on the menu. And most GF diners are probably fine with that. Points for effort.
The only downside is that Chico Malo has now ruined me for Mexican food in Montreal and Tucson. If my duck breast doesn’t come on a chest of drawers and my tamale doesn’t come with duck fat and a cherry-pecan mole, I’ll inevitably be disappointed. Meanwhile, I’ll just drown my sorrows in agave. First world problems, yes.
And the only thing that struck me as strange was the “Chico Malo: Hecho en USA” on the menu. Made in the USA. It’s a restaurant from the Culture Shock Hospitality group, so I’m not sure if it’s just trying to be patriotic by using high quality, local ingredients (Niman pork, sustainable shrimp) or be upfront about the fact that it’s not Mexican-owned, as though that’s a selling point. I’m going to cross my fingers it’s the former, but there’s a lot I don’t understand about political views in the USA, so I’ll leave it at that.
Chico Malo
Address: 50 West Jefferson, Phoenix, AZ 85003
Phone: 602-603-9363
Hours: Mon-Thurs 11am-10pm, Fri 11am-midnight, Sat 10am-midnight, Sun 10am-9pm
How much: $25-$50 per person with a shared appetizer, a main and a drink
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