Cuatro

The subtitle to Cuatro, a relatively new South Loop restaurant, is "Cocina Nuevo Latino," or "New Mexican Cooking." And this smart little restaurant isn't pulling any punches when it comes to laying some exciting cocina out there.

The chef is Bryan Garcia, and he lists La Rosa in New York City and Adobo Grill in Chicago on his culinary vitae. Chris Baron is chef de cuisine, and he trod the boards at Opera several blocks to the north; the talent shows.

I do have a few bones to pick. One pertains to the "tortas gigantes." Yes, they are substantial enough for the price ($8), but not all that gigantic. Three tortas were sampled. One in particular ended up being more about the extras than the main event, and that was the pierna adobada. The meat of the matter on this torta was the chili-rubbed pork leg. The menu states that it is "sliced thin." Maybe too thin, because the meat got lost in a mess of avocado, onions and chipotle sauce. And what meat there was had a lingering toughness.

A much better torta was the pepitos. As the menu points out, this is "grilled ribeye steak, pepper jack cheese, and spicy guacamole on a toasty baguette roll." Indeed it was all of that and more.

Media noche was the third torta. It was pretty decent, but not the best Cuban sandwich around. It had all the right moves -- ham, roasted pork, cheese, pickles, mustard -- and the bun was good, but overall it just didn't ring my bell.

Everything else did, though. Empanadas pernil was an outstanding appetizer. Two plump beauties, the flaky dough bursting at the seams from a filling of slow-roasted pork and black beans. The empanadas were surrounded by a "salad" of hominy and wilted spinach along with a most flavorful guajillo escabeche sauce. Flavor to burn, baby.

And I just might order the "crema de chocio." What a great chowder. A marvelous medley of flavors that rambled through spicy fire-roasted corn, niblets of potato, a bit of tomato and epazote to kick it all into high gear.

Entrees are a riot of flavors, textures, and solid choices. I give high marks to a menu that had me in a quandary as to what I should order. Cuatro had me over a barrel. Out of the dozen or so entrees on the menu, I felt like getting involved with at least 10.

Costillas estofadas translates as beer-braised short ribs. Beef is what this dish is mostly about, and the meat was tender, flavorful and wonderfully delicious. Bring in accompaniments to the beef -- a dandy salsa of tomatillo and avocado, rice that is nice, and tender spring onions -- and you have a fine plate of food that is properly priced at just $17.

Prices at Cuatro are more than reasonable. The highest priced dish on the menu is the bistec a la parilla, at $26. I would say that the steak was worth it. The menu notes that it is "certified Angus aged 14-ounce New York steak," and that it was, grilled and rubbed with "recaito." Recaito is a cilantro-based seasoning with hints of garlic and onion. Call it a dry rub for steak, and it did give this steak a dandy Mexican spin of flavor. Also, the steak was cooked perfectly medium-rare. The chorizo-laced, twice-baked potato added somewhat to the enjoyment, but I say drop the chorizo part, since it fights a bit with the flavor of the steak.

On the seafood end of things, salmon comes along wrapped in banana leaf with a ragout of saffron quinoa. The trout is boneless and crusted with yucca meal. Neither was tried, simply because I had my eye (and head) set on the mojo-sauteed shrimp. A bevy of pristine beauties that had a whole lot of tasty company in the way of chorizo, jasmine rice, and black beans, along with plantain guisado (sauteed).

Desserts are as creative as the rest of the menu. Seven choices in all, and the range is from chocolate mousse cake to mango mousse. Yes, those are two that I sampled, along with a quite delicious cake that the menu calls "batata," a type of sweet potato that is grown in the Caribbean and falls under the category of exotic, so you can see where this is going. The menu describes it as "warm sweet potato upside down cake." Upside down or right side up, it was great. Along with the accompanying orange mango salsa and coconut milk sorbet, there was enjoyment galore.

The mango mousse gets tagged with the word "intense." So be it. Intense got my attention, and I happen to love mangoes. Not a hard decision here. This floppy tubular mousse was tucked into a pineapple shell. Bring in the fresh papaya and the marinated strawberries, and you have it. All this dessert needed was some of those little cocktail umbrellas.

Pat Bruno is a free-lance writer, critic and author.