“I don't want Mexican food to get into this rut and stay there. It needs to continue to elevate and I'm going to be the guy to do that.”
That’s what Mike Minor tells me days before the chef and owner of Truck U Barbeque revisits the food that boosted his career with a Yucatan-style dinner at Made L.V. on May 13. The former Border Grill executive chef couldn’t have asked for a better crowd for his pop-up dinner at the Tivoli Village tavern.
Minor re-teamed with many of his Border Grill kitchen compadres to create this meal and made it known that bold Mexican flavors should be expected right off the bat. A mahi-mahi ceviche was served on a crispy plantain chip, a one-two punch of acid and sweetness with the latter coming from a coconut peach sauce.
Mike Minor's cochinita pibil, slow-roasted achiote pork.
I give credit to the chef for surprising me. I can’t say I’ve ever tasted anything like sikil pak before. This pumpkinseed dip might date back to the Mayans, but the flavor is as fresh as it gets. Minor changed things up by replacing the pepitas with squash seeds. Spread over crackers or tortilla chips, this unique dish will be craved for weeks.
The main course, cochinita pibil, is a Yucatan favorite, slow-roasted pork cooked inside of banana leaves and bombarded with a number of flavors including cinnamon, orange, tomato and shallots. Minor wanted to share something that would bridge what he learned under the tutelage of Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger at Border Grill with his current stake as the proprietor of a barbecue-oriented food truck. Beyond that, the goal was to get people interacting with one another. “I'm very family-oriented. I want people to pass around big bowls of food and talk. Family-style [dining] really makes people come out of their shell.”
The tres leeches verona with spring berries and Italian meringue was an instant hit.
The meat, with its unique orange color, was very nice on its own, but when combined with the other elements on the table, it really jumped off. Pickled habanero onions were the most acidic bite of the night and acted as a shot of adrenaline. Pan-fried plantains were worth going back for thirds.
As for dessert, the vanilla tres leches verona is in the early running for the best sweet plate of the year, in my mind. The cake was heightened by a topping of Italian meringue. Berries soaked up all the liquid goodness that escaped the cake. And the special addition of diced cantaloupe made the entire thing sing.
If Made L.V. continues to bring in guest chefs the caliber of Minor, I could see every one of these pop-ups selling out. But the next chefs better be ready—Minor and his team set a high and delicious standard.
