Alyssa
The Fruteria, located at 401 South Flores St. in Southtown takes Mexican cuisine to a new level. You won’t find bean and cheese tacos on the menu, no, instead you’ll find yourself reading entrees like puerco en mole blanco, huitlacoche con rajas y salsa de elite and chile güero con jaiba. Don’t worry if you can’t read Spanish. Below each dish is a more detailed description in English- pork belly with aromatic spices in a chile and white chocolate sauce with pine nuts and almonds; corn truffles with roasted poblanos, sweet corn cream, queso fresco and crema; pan fried anaheim peppers with crab salad, tomato sauce and crema.
To begin our meal, we ordered the guacamole con frutas which consisted of avocado, mango, pineapple and grapes with a side of chips. Our favorite part of the guacamole? The grapes! The sweet, juicy burst of grape juice in your mouth mixed in with avocado was a wonderful take on the traditional dish.
Speaking of fruta, at the Fruteria, you can order aguas frescas. Aguas frescas, translated in English to “fresh water”, comes in many different flavors. I ordered the pineapple agua fresca and was pleasantly surprised to find out you get a free refill. Fruit flavored water beats plain ‘ol water anytime.
While neither of us ordered a margarita at dinner, we were told they are amazing, and based off the menu selection, we had to agree. The Frutería Infusion Margarita is a mixture of fresh lime, pineapple and orange juice, Cointreau and one of the house infusions. What are the house infusions? Everything that makes a margarita from ok to the best drink you’ve ever had! Choose from six different infusions ranging from sweet to close your eyes and bite your tongue, that’s the perfect amount of sour.
Onto the entrees! Jacqueline, my dear friend, ordered the pollo en mole rojo con chayote- chicken in a chile and almond sauce, red potatoes and chayote squash. It came in a beautifully painted bowl with a side of corn tortillas. She was kind enough to spare a bite of the pollo en mole and the the mole was exceptionally savory, as were the corn tortillas, which I later ordered for myself.
I love seafood. Love it. So when I looked at the menu my eyes fell upon the ceviche rojo- white fish, chile chipotle, roasted red peppers and pico de gallo. The waitress suggested this because it had just the right amount of heat and the texture of the fish went perfectly with tostada cups. She was right. I could eat the ceviche rojo straight from the bowl, but ss I mentioned above, I ordered corn tortillas because I wanted to create a taco. Classic.
The Fruteria, is a restaurant by Chef Johnny Hernandez. He also owns La Gloria in the Pearl. Besides the food and the aguas frescas, my favorite part about Chef Johnny Hernandez is the infamous skeleton art outside the Fruteria and La Gloria.