Minero - Modern Mexican Menu
My spouse and I dined at Minero for lunch on a Saturday
afternoon in mid-November 2016. The restaurant takes its name “Minero” from the
Spanish word for “miners”; reportedly, miners coined the word “taco” to
represent the hand-rolled explosives that they used to create tunnels. Minero
is open daily for lunch, dinner, and drinks. The restaurant does not accept
reservations. The Neighborhood Dining Group (NDG) owns Minero, along with
neighbors McCrady’s, McCrady’s Tavern, and Husk. The group operates another
location of Husk in Nashville (where we dined in July 2014), another location of
Minero in Atlanta, and Chicago’s Steak and Seafood in Roswell Georgia.
Since December 2015, Minero has occupied the second-floor historic Gallery space on
East Bay Street formerly used by McCrady's for private dining. Prior to that
date, the restaurant was located just a few steps from its current entrance
(separated by Pearlz Oyster Bar). The old Minero space now houses McCrady’s
Restaurant, which serves a tasting-only menu. (We visited the new McCrady’s on
the same trip in November 2016; see our separate review called “Creative
Tasting Menu Format”.) For those with mobility issues, an elevator is available
to reach the second-story space from the street level; however, the restrooms
are located just a step above the main dining room floor and are therefore not
accessible by someone in a wheelchair. The 1000-square foot dining space
features a 16-seat bar, booth, and semi-booth (with a shared banquette) for
nearly 100 patrons at a time.
Décor
features whitewashed brick walls, hardwood floors, high tin ceilings, exposed
beams, and leather banquettes. The designer added pops of color on the striped
cushions for the booth backs and by using Mexican tiles. Unique wooden tables
feature a drawer hidden beneath the top that contains silverware and napkins.
Minero serves modern Mexican cuisine that incorporates some
Lowcountry elements. We began with a draught “cerveza” and a glass of the
Jamaica iced tea (which our waiter pronounced “hum-eye-ka”). As a starter, we
shared the salsa-tasting sampler, which the chef serves in small bowls with
tiny spoons so that you drizzle your chips rather than dunk/pile them. The sampler
features three different salsas, including verde (green with tomatillo), rojo
(red with a bit of heat from the chilies), and benne (brown with nutty sesame
oil). The chef sprinkles the accompanying chips with a proprietary seasoning,
then wraps them with brown paper and tucks them inside a colorful custom-made
fabric tortilla warmer (which resembles a sort of pretty pot-holder/oven mitt).
Next, we shared a selection of small tacos, which the restaurant serves one per
order (approximately 4” in diameter and priced appropriately at $4 each) but plated
in groups of two or three. We chose the fried catfish (with pickled green
tomato tartar, crisp cabbage, and red onion), pork carnitas (with pork, salsa
verde, and crunchy chicharron), el pastor (pork with a pineapple slice and
avocado), grilled chicken (with mango, cotija cheese, and pickled onion), and green
chorizo (Spanish/Portuguese pork sausage, potato, and onion). The chef places
the ingredients atop house-made tortillas that the staff creates from the heirloom
corn ground into masa, transformed into dough, and shaped into tortillas. We
passed on dessert; the only option is churros (cinnamon-sugar dusted dough served
warm in a paper sack with a chocolate dipping sauce).
We enjoyed our lunch at Minero; the restaurant is another
hit by Chef Shawn Brock!
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