Photos by The Restaurant Project
Colita beef barbacoa tacos
Colita beef barbacoa tacos
The night before Colita officially opened, in November, Daniel del Prado could be found cooking in a commercial kitchen across town. It was the “Chef’s Night Off” event, in which big names from Twin Cities restaurants volunteer to make food alongside ticket-holders, with the proceeds going to charity. Now, most of the chefs who pitch in for this monthly event aren’t opening a new restaurant in the morning. Del Prado, however, looked completely at ease. In fact, he appeared to be having fun teaching people how to make tuna tostadas.
“You know, I said yes to this a long time ago,” del Prado explained. “We can do it, we should do it, so let’s do it!” No sweat.
With this same breezy ease, del Prado and his crew have taken our hearts with some of the top spots in Twin Cities dining. First came Martina, and now Colita, which he launched in an old gas station, at the corner of 54th and Penn. At Martina, in Linden Hills, you feel like you’re showing up to the best house party on the block: the one with plates flowing from the hot-fire kitchen; the one with gorgeous stylistas sipping gin at the bar. Colita, while no less busy, seems more subdued.
Colita Chef Daniel del Prado
Chef Daniel del Prado running the kitchen.
The dark and cozy feel comes from the lighting, the dark wood dining room, and the abundance of two-top tables. This room looks built for date night. At the horseshoe-shaped bar, Marco Zappia and his cocktail team do their dance in front of the bright-green cascade of a living wall. The bar, meanwhile, fizzes with giant glass vessels, filled with pink and ochre fermenting liquids. These are the potions that go into the drinks, which smoke and jingle with bling.
Named for del Prado’s childhood dog, Colita puts itself forward as an evolving Mexican restaurant, currently blending Oaxacan flavors and techniques with the habits of del Prado’s Argentinian cooking.
“I don’t like concepts,” del Prado told me the night before it opened. “I just like food! When I was in Oaxaca and eating all the smoked meats, it felt so close to home, but different. Making tortillas feels like I’m working the pasta bar, but with tortillas!”
Oaxacan cuisine is known for its smoked meats, along with roasted and richly layered dishes: moles, chiles, grilled meats, herbs like epazote, quesillo cheese. It’s a cook’s paradise.
Colita brings it home with a mix of hot and cold plates, plus plates of those house-smoked meats. Starting cold, the cordero tartare offers lush bits of raw lamb under an ash coating of roasted Fresno chilies, dotted with marigold and mint leaves. It’s a fully seasoned, yet delicate, bite. The acorn squash comes roasted and topped with spinach and lathered in brown butter. A hazelnut mole delivers a nutty, tart hit of spice that balances the sweetness of the squash.
Colita cordero tartare
Cordero tartare
You’ll see a few tostadas on the hot list. All arrive on a hand-ground corn tortilla that isn’t afraid to be thick and oddly shaped. The cacio-e-pepe-stacked tostada is a dairy celebration: Oaxacan cheese, parm, and soft Chihuahua cheese, all melted together. Call it the most elegant nacho situation in town.
The lobster tostada is rightly luxe, with a biting guajillo pepper rémoulade and corn butter. But I preferred the wild mushroom version for its perfect earthy bite of mushrooms, played against a gremolata of chopped herbs.
It’s hard to be disappointed in the smoked meats area. The KC pork ribs may ruin you for takeout BBQ. How can you go back to eating ribs without carrot puree and the whiff of tamarind? But the killer has to be the bone-in short rib, a monster hunk of beef. The accompanying mole on this dish punches through the fatty meat with cinnamon and allspice, laced with the softest hit of heat. This is a seductive date dish to share, believe me.
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If you read our profile of Marco Zappia last year, you weren’t surprised to learn that Forbes magazine recently placed the dapper head barman on its vaunted notables list of “30 Under 30.” Colita is where the potion master may truly come into his own. Zappia’s fermentation program allows him to create drinks specifically balanced to play against the spicy layers in the food.
Try a flight of the ferments before ordering. If you like the birch-honey ferment best, choose the Five Suns drink, which Zappia blends with London dry gin. The small “4” superscripted above the word “gin” denotes that there isn’t one branded gin in there, but four different makes, blended to achieve a perfect balance and flavor.
You may never be able to taste an exact replication of this drink anywhere else. I think it goes nicely with the cordero. It also seems to me, perhaps, a distillation of this restaurant’s soul.
