THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Manduca

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Manduca Restaurant Review:

Manduca is the northern outpost of a Mexican restaurant dynasty---a kind of reconquista of the sort seen more frequently hereabouts since NAFTA. Ironically, it has taken over the tired digs of a lackluster Mexican joint on the River Walk and has burnished them into a semi-precious gem form. Massive stone walls bracket the dining experience inside; a huge magnolia tree shelters diners at river’s edge. But if the setting now seems to be achieving its potential, the menu is still struggling for an identity. It began as a kind of Euro-clash-meets-Mexico document---with a little American thrown in to appease the locals. And it now seems to have morphed into something more classically Mexican---with a few steaks thrown in to appease the locals. Still, this is the best place on the River Walk to have a fresh, fish ceviche marinated in lime and orange juices, and the only one to indulge in epazote-scented mushrooms with toasted garlic and adobo sauce. Seafood enchiladas play a little fast and loose with classic precepts, utilizing a cilantro-mushroom cream sauce and an avocado hollandaise topping; Sabana Manduca, a grilled sheet of pounded-out tenderloin, is much more traditional; and Pollo Alamo plays to the tourist crowd with chicken breast marinated in Dijon mustard and rosemary. Despite all this, locals haven’t yet staked a claim to Manduca, but if only for the tequila-based specialty cocktails (the Vampiro pairs tequila with sangríta and grapefruit soda), they should soon find their way here.