First look: Chef Jorge Guzman’s Chilango TexMex

Chef Jorge Guzmán makes nachos. Yes, the same guy who has been nominated twice for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest (Petite Leon and Surly Brewer’s Table) makes nachos with shredded lettuce that remind me of the ones my mom used to make on a griddle watching Sunday football games .

Guzmán’s version is everything you want it to be: great chips, pickled jalapeños, shredded lettuce, no Velveeta but a nice mild white melty cheddar. And it’s a great metaphor for what Chilango is and isn’t: it’s a neighborhood restaurant, it’s fun, it’s approachable, and it’s not meant to win anyone a Beard Award. There is nothing precious about the menu, nothing influenced, nothing but tasty flavors, each elevated enough to make it special, but not too elevated to make you feel uncomfortable.

Nachos are part of a series of feasts at this lakeside spot: the botanas (snacks) section has chips and salsa, guacamole, ceviche, the kind of food you eat next to one of Javier Rojas’ fantastic margaritas. I loved the spicy mango margarita, a rare Twin Cities cocktail that promises the heat of serrano and delivers. The Verano Rosso is a gin martini crossed with a negroni, light and beautiful. The Vuelve a la Vida is fascinating: rum and pineapple and honey and lime and vermouth.

This is cooking with confidence. The charred beets don’t look charred, but the texture is just right, and you get that smell of smoke, that slightly sweet and caramelized flavor, a hint of citrus in a jalepeno-honey vinaigrette, and then a great textural note of quinoa. It’s a delicious $14 salad. I could see myself taking a bike ride around the lakes and stopping for the beets and a drink.

Guzman has been making pop-ups called Pollo Pollo al Carbon Chicken for a decade, getting his achiote marinade just right for that charcoal-cooked chicken, and what a pleasure to see it on this menu. The half chicken was perfection. For $30, the beautiful red color of the achiote, a warmth and depth of flavor in that juicy chicken, the ideal bite included a taste of the smoked fresno salsa that accompanies it.

The sleeper hit on the menu might be the charred sweet potato enchiladas. It’s actually more like three flat soft-shell tacos, smothered in a beautiful yellow mole. There are so many flavors coming together here, and it’s a really happy dish ($24). I can’t wait to come back for the fajitas and the fried cauliflower; both looked excellent when I saw them coming to other tables. Chef Ryan Thompson is a PS Steak veteran, so there are a number of beef products worth exploring.

The room feels great too. You’ll notice that the main footprint of the previous restaurants hasn’t changed. Walk into the main level with a huge square bar and go up a few stairs to the dining room. The owner enlisted Rodrigo Oñate Roco from Mexico City to create several murals in the room featuring bright, vibrant spray-painted graffiti art.

Only a fool would review a restaurant on the fourth night of operation, so don’t take this as a review. They’re still figuring out staffing, training everyone. But Chilango reminded me of some of the scene-y restaurants we had in the early 2000s, with big rooms, lots of energy and lots of fun. Figlio, Bellanote and even Urban Eatery in the early years, which lasted a decade in the same space. You know it’s going to be a blast on the patio this summer too.

Chilango MexTex2730 W. Lake St., Minneapolis, chilangomextex.com

Parking: Valet parking costs $9
Reservations: Highly recommended, the large bar is walk-in
Tip/costs?: 4.95% wellness surcharge
Opening hours: 5pm-10pm Monday-Wednesday; 5pm-11pm Thursday-Saturday; Sunday 11am-9pm (kitchen closes 2pm-5pm and 8pm)