Life with food and drink: Some question marks at Centrico

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Some question marks at Centrico

A couple weeks ago, I met up with a big group of friends from my old job for cocktails and bites at Centrico, an upscale Mexican restaurant in Tribeca, before heading to an 80's cover band (Rubix Cube) at the Canal Room up the street. Now, there's not much at a Mexican restaurant that I can eat, so I mostly came for the drinks and the company.

First, the drinks. Surprisingly, Centrico does pitchers (a bit of a contrast to their upscale attitude and prices), so the table got pitchers of margaritas, both frozen and on the rocks. They met with approval around the table; of course, always the contrarian, I got what appeared to be a more interesting drink: a Frozen Strawberry Caipirinha. This drink appeared with a bright, day-glo color and a festive wedge of lime. I took one sip and my taste buds nearly exploded: this concoction was overloaded with flavors. For one, it was incredibly sweet; for another, it was powerfully tangy. There was a bite from an alcohol, although this ended up not being overly strong. It was actually a bit hard to get through a whole glass of this stuff, due to the flavor overload, but that made it good for sipping.

Frozen, with salt

Yeeeooowwzaa

There was also food, some apps for the table and some individual entrees. I didn't taste any of this, so I can merely provide you with some pictures and some overall observations, as follows: In terms of visual appeal, the guac at least fell short. For some reason, the precise texture they chose... not really creamy, kinda a little bit too chunky, but small chunks... I dunno. Not my cup of tea. The other main observation is that the portion size here was disappointing. Guac and chips for $12; the tiniest quesadilla I've ever seen for $10; chicken mole for $20... this stuff isn't cheap, and they don't give you much of it.

In any case, we had quite a bit of fun at Centrico. I wouldn't necessarily return, because again, I'm not a huge fan of Mexican food, but it's worth noting that the service was very friendly, and our awesome server dealt with our obnoxious group with aplomb. And with that, I'll leave you with some pics of the goods so you can decide for yourself whether it's worth a visit.