Reposado Restaurant in Palo Alto serves main entrees called Platos Tradicionales. I call them Platos Especiales! These are not your average tacos and burritos. Their menu offers a nice selection of upscale entrees that will allow your taste buds to experience a very sophisticated style of Mexican cuisine. Reposado is one of four restaurants in the “Restaurants from Scratch” independent restaurant company and their motto is “simple food done well”. Their other restaurants are Scratch, Palo Alto Creamery and Gravity Bistro & Wine Bar.
The restaurant is laid out with an open floor plan and high exposed ceilings. It was bustling with patrons and quite noisy. In addition, there was music in the background that was barely heard and we wondered why they bothered as it only added to an already noisy atmosphere. We had friendly, excellent service all the way through our evening starting with drinks at the bar and moving to the dining room for our meal.
To enjoy something to snack on while perusing the menu, we ordered their Guacamole. They make it with avocado, cilantro, lime juice, shallots, tomato, Serrano chile, queso anejo served with freshly made tri-colored chips. It came with a variety of three salsas and all were delicious as were the chips and guacamole.
Someone in our group ordered an Ensalada Reposado. It was made with baby greens, sweet pepper, tomato, radish, cornbread croutons and honey lime dressing. Very fresh, light and delightful and was served in an unusual bowl with a triangle center. Nice presentation!
The main entrees were all plated beautifully and offered an unusual selection of ingredients that nicely complimented each other.
The Colorado Lamb Chops were possibly the best I have ever had! Cooked to perfection and served with Chile Morita – a cashew sauce infused with tamarind. The sauce had a wonderful depth of flavor and went nicely with the fava bean quinoa salad and kaffir infused vegetables. (I seriously could have licked the sauce off the plate!)
The Shrimp were filled with Manchego cheese and wrapped in Nueskes bacon (from Wisconsin where they make the world’s finest applewood smoked meats), served with a cascabel (chili pepper) sauce and heirloom bean sweet potato hash. The dish was topped with fresh made sweet potato chips. A unique presentation and it was good, but not my favorite entree. The shrimp were a little dry as it is probably difficult to cook bacon enough to be done correctly without overcooking the shrimp.
Reposado provides a separate full course Vegetarian Menu where this selection came from. They were bean filled Raviolis with roasted tomato achiote sauce and avocado tomatillo sauce. A beautiful plate made with a delicate pasta and savory filling that married well with the complex flavors of the sauce accompaniments.
The Conhinita Pibil is pork marinated in achiote & citrus slowly braised in banana leaves, with habanero, mango & jicama pico de gallo served with creamy jasmine rice with rajas. Rajas are creamy poblano pepper strips. The pork was rich & flavorful and fork tender served in a small cast iron casserole. It also came with a side of handmade corn tortillas.
We finished our meals with a bite of sweets. A Tart with Assorted Berries and Upside Down Caramel Banana Cake with caramel sea salt ice cream. The desserts were very good, but their home run was definitely with the Platos Tradicionales.
If you’re a fan of Mexican food and want to experience a more sophisticated version of it, then I suggest you make a stop at Reposado. Start at the bar, as I did, and enjoy one of their specialty cocktails. It will set the stage for a wonderful evening of culinary enjoyment!