A spiritual experience at Espiritu
Espiritu, meaning 'spirit' or 'mind', the sister restaurant to Bacanora, is as spectacular as its counterpart - but with a seafood focus and an extensive cocktail menu that reads like a novella broken into chapters of 'Shooketh'/'Stirredeth'/'Choose your own Adventure'/'Shots and Other Mistakes'.
Crafted by chefs Nadia Holguin, Rene Andrade, and Roberto Centeno, the menu is seafood-centric, and I’m a sucker for a whole fried snapper, which is so quintessentially Mexican - and executed with so much flavor and perfection I still dream about it. Imagine a crispy, salty, and lightly battered fish, with a succulently sweet tender meat inside…accompanied by drizzles
of chili oil…it’s absolute perfection. It swims on a mountain of julienned vegetables — chayote squash, carrot, red onion, and tomatillo, drizzled with local honey, lime, mint, and cilantro, and the varying degrees of texture and citrus and salt made my tastebuds dance. This certainly was a dish that spoke to the culinary geniuses in the kitchen.
Other items I loved on the menu were the Aguachile Verde de Camarón with Shrimp Crudo cooked with lime, red onion, cucumber, cilantro, and sal de chiltepin (a perfect summer dish with some heat and a mountain of freshness).
There is thought and intention that goes into every dish here. The
verdant walls are covered in antique mirrors. Potted plants grow wild in every shape and size. Repurposed wood-framed vintage black and white photographs of Mexican life fill the walls. A multitude of candles, whose wax has taken up residence on the countertops, adds a touch of reverence and mystique...perhaps it is a nod to an Ofrenda. Ambient Mexican beats, both contemporary and traditional complete the atmosphere.
Featured cocktails:
🍸 EL PIRATA CHINGON
Barrel aged rhum agricole, pineapple amaro, jaeger cold brew, falernum syrup, singed orange
🍹LOS CAIDOS
Coconut oil fat washed mezcal, Oaxacan rum, triple sec, velvet falernum, Jamaica pecan orgeat, Creme de coconut, lime juice, pineapple juice, Tiki bitters, aromatic bitters served in a skull and misted with red tiki bitters, simulating a blood stained libation.
Espiritu is the type of Place That hadn’t gotten enough attention, but for die-hard fans of Bacanora…this will be their new favorite spot to tuck in and imbibe.
