Trebol

Mississippi is sporting a shiny new Mexican restaurant, with Oaxacan regional cuisine. Actually, I think it’s up where the street is actually Albina, just south of N Alberta. Trebol has a decent little patio, it’s painted a nice shade of green, and overall looks tastefully done. Though, I actually never set foot inside the actual restaurant.

We sat outside, it was a gorgeous day. We drank margaritas and mojitos. They were pretty tasty, and somewhat reasonably priced, though the well tequila is pancho. They brought us some homemade tortillas with salsa. These were quite tasty, and I appreciated the spice of the verde. We asked the waiter for recommendations throughout the meal, and invariably they were the most expensive item of its kind on the menu.

For an appetizer, we ordered the clams. They were not particularly inspiring. Acceptable, but a bit bland, and the clams themselves varied broadly in size and quality.

For dinner, we didn’t follow recommendations because we didn’t feel like $17+ plates for a casual dinner. So, Dave and Ryan got the beef tacos, and I got the beef tamales. They seemed to enjoy their tacos, but were not particularly excited about them. My tamales were very mediocre, they were more like porridge in a banana leaf. The beef and the red sauce were both very good, but the tamale itself was so watery as to drown out the flavor.

We also got a flight of tequila. The waiter recommended Corzo. Again, a top coster. The flight turned out to be three 2/3oz shots, so 2oz total. It was served with some sort of tomato-lime juice for pallet clearing. The Corzo was quite yummy though. As a group we preferred the reposado for its smoothness. The anejo was nice, actually, all three were good.

The service was fine, maybe a bit inconsistent. They brought us the extra stuff we asked for (more tortillas, bread). It took us forever to get out of there, and the waiter had the affect of an owner on a day with bad numbers, trying to play up but not masking too well. I don’t know if he is or not.

As a new addition to the high-end Mexican food market, Trebol has a lot of space to cover if they’d like to compete with D.F., Autentica, and Taqueria Nueve (and the hybrid joint over in St. Johns). Their location is good, the patio is nice, but the food is a stretch for the price. I’d like to emphasize that I really liked the sauces. Good luck, I’ll try again sometime.

If somebody is more familiar with the Oaxacan style, please chime in…or if you’ve had a better experience in general.