We had eaten at
New Rebozo a couple of years ago and have wanted to return for quite a while. In the Chicago area, it has been featured on Chicago's Best and Check Please. It is located in Oak Park, but they are in the process of opening a location in Chicago.
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| Salads - Jicama, Cactus & Shrimp |
We ordered an appetizer special of 3 different "salads" to go with tortilla chips. One had jicama, pineapple and cucumber. The second had cactus and pickled cabbage. The third was a shrimp ceviche. They were all great but the jicama salad was the best.
One of entrees we ordered was the entree special of pork with mole 2 ways: white mole with white chocolate, and red mole with chiles. We were encouraged to try both of the moles on their own and then together. They were both pretty amazing. The white chocolate was sweet and smooth and the red mole was spicy, but not fiery. The red mole had a great smoky flavor. So together it was a sweet and smoky success. This dish also came with mashed potatoes - not that this is a Mexican thing - but because the chef likes mashed potatoes.
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| Pork with White Chocolate and Red Chile Mole |
We also ordered Camaron Mixteco - shrimp with a pumpkin seed mole. This was a different kind of sauce. It was good, but nothing could come close to the moles in the pork special. This dish got a little messy because the tails were kept on the shrimp for presentation but you had to touch them (which were covered in sauce) to get to all of the shrimp "meat" out.
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| Shrimp with pumpkin seed mole |
We love Chef Paco (the owner of the restaurant). He introduces himself to all of the tables and comes around to talk about the night's specials. The way he describes them makes you of course want to order them. The other time we were here we only ordered specials as well. (maybe they don't need as much of a regular menu that way???) On the regular menu there are several other types of moles but otherwise it seems like typical Mexican fare.
Final thoughts on New Rebozo:
Food: great food; the specials are always great. This is a better more elevated Mexican food than what is typical. This restaurant specializes in moles so that is why we both ordered mole related entrees.
Service: now if Chef Paco wasn't as super nice and friendly as he is, the service would just be marginal. The actual waiter we had was not that friendly and really didn't do a whole lot besides take our order and bring us water. Chef Paco explains the specials and actually brought our food out to describe everything to us and he also brought out extra chips for the appetizer course we had. We weren't planning on ordering dessert but the waiter didn't even ask if we wanted anything he just brought out our check. Now the food here is great; but really the way Chef Paco makes you feel about being there and eating his food is what makes this place amazing. We wonder what will happen when the Chicago location opens and Chef Paco can't be part of the everyday operations of either location. (If you want to see a video of the chef interacting with customers go to the Check Please clip about this restaurant - we really can't do it justice talking about it.)
Atmosphere: We were there this time on a week night and it wasn't that busy. The last time we were there was on a weekend and it was very busy so you would definitely need reservations then. There are lots of Mexican inspired pieces of art around the walls.
