THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Mercadito Midtown

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Mercadito Midtown Restaurant Review:

Conceived by siblings Felipe, Alfredo and Patricio Sandoval (the latter a chef), this expansive Midtown Miami outpost of three NYC Mercaditos sports walls muraled with retro-hip graffiti designed to evoke a Mexican street market. They don't. But they're big fun. And, along with the anything-but-mariachi music, the décor does signal that the food here is neither typical peasant-folksy Mexican nor sauce-sour creamed Tex-Mex stuff, but creative, contemporary fare that combines the most solid of today's trends and yesterday's traditions. The intensely aromatic tortillas are a main component that make the place's dozen varieties of tacos top choice here, though Mercadito's unstuffy takes on classic stuffings are also important. Our surprise favorite filling: hongos, a mix of wild mushrooms, manchego cheese, bracing salsa verde and huitlacoche (a corn fungus that has an assertively earthy charm similar to truffles). The other must-have tacos are carnitas (rich braised pork balanced with spicy chile de arbol slaw and sprinkled with peanuts), better, because of the cabbage crunch, than the pastor-style pork tacos, and Baja-style battered mahi mahi with Mexican slaw and tongue-tingling chipotle aïoli.