We have high hopes for Tico, Michael Schlow’s ultra-casual Latin American-Spanish-Mexican-American restaurant that’s in its final design stages. We caught up with the Radius mastermind while he was putting some finishing touches on the dining room, and we like what we hear.
First, a moment for the tacos. “These tacos are unlike anything you’d ever see in Mexico,” Schlow told Grub Street. “There’s nothing authentic, like carne asade or al pastor. None of that.” No, instead he’s going for spicy lobster salad and pork belly, cabbage, and green tomato. “These dishes were designed on imagination,” he says.
So too was the decor; the dining room is replete with haphazard tables (nothing matches), festooned with pieces Schlow found during travels to Mexico and Spain. There’s also a six-seat chef’s table on the cold food side of the kitchen, and Schlow promises that he’ll be at the restaurant all the time.
This is good, because when we hear the term “small plates” we tend to die a little inside, and small plates (in addition to tacos) are Tico’s primary focus. “I don’t want to use the word tapas,” Schlow tells us. “This isn’t an authentic Spanish tapas bar, where you’re standing up eating.” And the small-plates offerings are definitely a far cry from Barcelona—he’s especially psyched about a dish comprising Brussels sprouts, bacon, kumquat, and jalapeno. We trust that he can pull this off.
He resists being lumped with the slew of new south-of-the-borderish restaurants (Papagayo, Lolita, etc.) flooding the city—”this is a restaurant unto itself,” he tells us
