After our trip to Mexico City earlier this year, I would say Mexican cuisine in the U.S. wherever my wife Jun and I went to has never quite felt the same. Perhaps that is more of an East Coast problem (we certainly had an amazing meal at Holbox in LA a few years ago), but I kept missing the rich and complex flavor of Mexican cuisine I encountered from fine dining restaurants to simple taquerias. On our recent visit to New York City, I decided to give a shot to Corima in Chinatown, along with Jun’s friend and her husband from Hispanic / Spanish heritage that we had known for a long time. Overall, the dinner we had at Corima was mostly fine, but after a few weeks later, I couldn’t quite remember any particularly memorable dishes.

Corima, which translates to “circle of sharing” according to the restaurant, is a fairly new restaurant from chef Fidel Caballero focusing on the cuisine of northern Mexico with a modern twist (what the chef would call “Progressive Mexican”). There are a la carte menu options as well as a tasting menu available at $125 per person; we opted for the latter. The first few bites were promising, starting with a playful twist to the popular snack Buñuelo with cuttlefish and white asparagus. Jun particularly enjoyed the collar of Branzino with spicy Chintextle sauce, and I also quite enjoyed kohlrabi tostada with sea spaghetti and caviar. Among the larger dishes, my favorite was new potatoes with hay-smoked cream and beef heart; the rich and creamy flavor of the dish was quite apt for an autumn night.

On the other hand, my biggest disappointment was probably monkfish with green Fushimi pepper sauce; the flavor of the sauce was surprisingly muted and I was expecting a bit more impact. The taco with fuqi feipian (thinly sliced Sichuan-style beef and offal) and Okinawa sweet potato, on the other hand, had too much going on in terms of flavor; Jun’s friend, who loves cooking and eating, didn’t finish the relatively small bite. The last savory course was dry aged NY strip with honeynut squash; the beef was not bad but I certainly expected something less predictable to wow me at the end. Sourdough flour tortilla with butter flavored with recado negro (a type of black seasoning paste) came alongside the beef; I get that the tortilla was intended to serve as the bread dish but it was somewhat of an odd pair in a sense that I couldn’t wrap the beef around with tortilla given its fluffy volume. The desserts were more or less fine, but again nothing that surprised me.

The restaurant was packed during our dinner on Saturday; if you want to check out the restaurant, booking in advance is highly recommended. One positive thing from Corima was the thoughtful wine list; I was impressed with the breadth of wines from Mexico to Germany. The service was overall attentive, and the casual downtown vibe of the dining space was also a plus in our experience. I asked Jun’s friend what she thought of our experience at the end, and she struggled to give a wholehearted endorsement. I felt the same (Jun was a bit more complimentary); I appreciated the kitchen’s attempt to showcase Mexican cuisine from a new, modern angle, but seems to have lost a bit of direction in terms of preserving the essence of what makes Mexico such a celebrated culinary destination.  

KenScale: 7.75/10 (Jun’s Score: 7.75/10)

Address: 3 Allen Street, New York, NY 10002

Website: https://www.corimanyc.com/

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