Empellón Midtown

Fun and innovative take on Mexican food.  The savory items were good, but dessert was the highlight.

We started with the guacamole with seven salsas, which was good, but not as special as it seemed (although very pretty).  Other places have better guacamole, but it was fun to sample all the salsas.  Then we tried the pastrami and octopus tacos.  The pastrami was very tender.  I remember enjoying the octopus at the time, but I guess it wasn't all that memorable because I can't remember much about it now, just a few days later.  The sea bream with chilaquiles was very good though.  The fish was perfectly cooked, and the chilaquiles chips topped the fish and had good flavor without being soggy.

The desserts were the most inventive.  We had to try the avocado, which really looked like a real avocado, but tasted more like a creamy key lime pie.  The look and texture were spot on, but the taste was not what you'd expect; although in retrospect, that's not too surprising since avocado doesn't have much flavor on its own.  The pineapple dessert with bee pollen and chamomile ice cream also was very unique and had great flavor.