Spanish fusion restaurant brings new twist to Hispanic food scene in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — A restaurateur couple is getting back to their roots with a new opening that looks to the mother tongue of a cuisine that has proliferated across Cedar Rapids.

Mezcal Tequila Cocina, a passion project opened in early November by Chophouse Downtown owners Joe and Ryan Avila-Burillo, offers a unique Spanish fusion that honors the parts of Hispanic cuisine often neglected by dozens of other Mexican restaurants.

With an upscale menu made from scratch in an open kitchen, the couple’s second restaurant blends a fresh look at the familiar with a new look at the unfamiliar.

“Now that we’re at a point to expand, we wanted to show our heritage and show what we grew up eating,” Ryan said. “At home, this is what you’d see Joe and I cooking.”

The concept

Even before they opened Chophouse Downtown, their first restaurant in 2021, the Avila-Burillos knew they wanted to open something that matched their backgrounds.

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Joe, a chef for more than 15 years in the couple’s native California, long gleaned inspiration for the concept from his time running multiple cantina kitchens across southern California for owner Danny Trejo — the Mexican American actor known for his role in “Machete.”

After rooting themselves in Iowa with a chophouse’s utilitarian approach, the couple’s new venture blends their backgrounds into the concept named after their drink of choice and “cocina,” the Spanish word for kitchen that has connotations of inviting warmth. Joe was raised by his single Spanish mother; Ryan’s heritage is Mexican.

Showcasing the food that started Joe’s passion for cooking, he now prepares food in an open kitchen — one of just a few in the Corridor — where diners can watch Mezcal’s straightforward menu being prepared from scratch.

“I’m proud to be making dishes I used to make with my mom. My chile verde — I have literally never written (the recipe) down. I make it from memory,” he said.

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The menu

With a one-page menu of 30 items, you won’t find an endless dissertation of combinations that plagues Mezcal’s culinary cousins in Cedar Rapids.

Here, you’ll find black beans instead of refried beans, steak instead of ground beef and a new orientation that makes room for Mediterranean seafood classics that thrive in Spain. Paella is steeped with mussels and shrimp in saffron rice; salmon a la gallega is served with a paprika white wine sauce; and shrimp bocadillo is made with roasted bell peppers and a garlic aioli.

Some of the other things that Chophouse has a flare for — like pork chops and steak — have also found their way to Mezcal’s menu with new translations. The popular Chuleta Kan Kan pork chop, for example, plates a photo-worthy 40 ounces roasted and deep fried for tables to share. The hanger steak, also served as market price, offers a coffee-rubbed steak with red chimichurri sauce and fried plantains.

“A lot of people are blind to Mexican cuisine,” Ryan said. “The reality is, when you look at an entire culture of Hispanic cuisine, you have all different styles. It’s not just one style.”

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Between a section of tapas and meriendas, Mexican classics still have a place on this fusion cuisine’s menu — but in well-edited forms that evade the diner fatigue dozens of other restaurants haven’t quite figured out how to do.

Bottomless chips and salsa, served for $6, deliver bowls of salsa roasted and made in house. Taco entrees, which also can be made into burritos or burrito bowls, offer novel protein options like fried chicken and fried calamari alongside housemade slaw and pico de gallo on blue corn tortillas.

Gently folded in between them all are plenty of new options you won’t find at most other Cedar Rapids restaurants — cauliflower ceviche, bistec encebollado sirloin and jumbo garlic shrimp in lobster butter sauce and cotija cheese, to name a few.

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The drinks

Similar to their approach with food, the drink menu adopts an exploratory approach that tries to expand the palate of local diners.

“People are used to Casamigos, Don Julio,” Ryan said. “They don’t realize there’s so many options. All tequilas are mezcals, but not all mezcals are tequilas.”

Tequila is made with blue agave. Mezcal, which is made with many other types of agave, offers a much broader range of flavors not unlike whiskey’s diversity.

A sizable portion of the cocktail menu features dozens of sippable shots of tequila — from blanco and reposado to anejo and mezcal. Tequila flights, for those wanting the full experience, start at $35.

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.