It was a slow, lazy Sunday evening when my guests and I pulled up to Polanco’s Mexican Kitchen in southeast Arlington. The joint was so empty that we worried it might be closed, but our server warmly welcomed us. We were seated at a cozy booth by the front windows. Polanco’s dining room is spacious and bright, with cheerful, hand-painted trim — unfortunately, it merges seamlessly into the bar at the back, where there are loud disco lights and too many TVs.
From the moment our server returned with chips and salsa, a pattern emerged that continued throughout our meal: The items the kitchen prepared onsite and from scratch were fresh, flavorful, and exciting, but anything in front of us that had come from a bag or a box looked and tasted like it. When these two classes of ingredients were paired together (as they often were), the net effect was one of excitement, followed by disappointment, followed by licking the plate clean anyway.
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Polanco’s Mexican Kitchen
2001 SE Green Oaks Blvd, Arlington. 682-323-5122. 11am-10pm Sun-Wed, 11am-11pm Thu-Sat. All major credit cards accepted.
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Made of oven-roasted vegetables and served warm, Polanco’s house salsa was smoky and dark. Our server beamed with pride when we gushed over it and was happy to explain how it was more authentic than the chilled red sauces found elsewhere around town. It was hearty, with enough heat and depth of flavor to eat with a spoon — and that might have been more enjoyable than using the slightly stale red and yellow corn chips that arrived on the side. The guacamole suffered a similar handicap, but the dip itself was a perfect mash of fresh avocados, tangy pico de gallo, and limejuice.
The taco plate is a great way to get to know Polanco’s meat. Three tacos stuffed with fajitas, chicken tinga, pork carnitas or al pastor, tilapia, shrimp, or beef barbacoa, allow for the mixing and matching of flavors to suit any appetite. The spicy al pastor and the sinfully greasy barbacoa stood out, aching to be topped with house-made habanera onion relish before melting in your mouth. The rice and beans served alongside were standard-issue but worked well as a palate cleanser between succulent morsels of marinated meat.
There are quite a few Tex-Mex or even Mex-Mex restaurants around that serve hamburguesa, but it’s rare to see somebody actually order one. These burgers usually seem like an obligatory concession made available to relatives visiting from Farmers Branch or Des Moines, but Polanco’s chorizo burger seemed a different kind of beast altogether, promising Chihuahua cheese and avocado over a spiced patty and served on a “warm, buttery bun.” We had the impression that the hamburger patty itself was a blend of chorizo and ground beef, but it turned out to be a beef patty topped with a chorizo chili. Still, it had bold flavor and sassy garnishes. With some fresh-cut fries and a grilled teleras bun, the chorizo burger would have been a homerun — too bad the fries were frozen, and the bun came out of a cellophane 8-pack.
The chile relleno arrived stuffed with pork carnitas, deep fried and drowning in tangy ranchera salsa. The plump poblano pepper distinguished itself from many of our local rellenos by virtue of its not being both stuffed and smothered with yellow cheese. The subtle and juicy vegetal notes of the pepper were able to shine through, and the dish was a sign that Polanco’s has got the goods when it bothers to make the entire dish from scratch.
Save a little room for dessert when you visit Polanco’s: Its homemade flan is silky, smooth, and big enough to share.
For the place to have a chance of becoming a destination restaurant in this far-flung corner of Tarrant County, though, the kitchen needs to leave the frozen fries, bagged buns, and “fancy restaurant-style” chips behind.
[box_info]Polanco’s Mexican Kitchen
Guacamole $6
Taco plate $9
Chile relleno $11
Chorizo burger $9
Flan $5[/box_info]
You are a great writer mr. Phillips! I especially enjoyed this particular review.