Lunch and Dinner at Tatemó
About (Last Updated - 4/6/2023)
Tatemó is a restaurant in NW Houston, just outside of the 610 Loop. The restaurant's focus is on using
nixtamlized corn in creative ways
to highlight its numerous savory and sweet applications in the context of Mexican cuisine. Lunch is served on the weekends
in the form of an à la carte menu, and dinner is served Thursday - Sunday in the form of a 7-Course Tasting Menu. Dinner is BYOB with a
two-bottle-per-table maximum. In 2023, the restaurant was nominated for a James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant.
The restaurant is small, intimate, and warm, with flickering candles, assorted wall decorations, and large bags of corn adorning the dining room. It's a great place for a date or to dine alone, but it seats only a handful of parties per evening. For that
reason, it's one of only a few places in Houston that is fully booked weeks in advance.
The kitchen is clearly visible from the dining room (particularly from the bartop, which is where I sat), giving a unique window into Tatemó's operation.
Lunch
My first time at Tatemó was for lunch with some friends. Not yet ready to drop the full $125 for the tasting menu,
we wanted to try the abridged lunch menu to see what all the buzz was about.
I tried the Cheese Quesadilla, the Poblano and Potato Taco, and the Beet Tostada. All 3 were made using the restaurant's flagship tortillas; the poblano and potato filling was
well spiced. The Beet Tostada was served with a hefty scoop of spiced beets, potatoes, and squash blossoms placed atop a crispy blue corn tostada. The beet mixture was balanced with acidity for freshness, and
it was absolutely delicious. After lunch, I knew I'd need to return for dinner.
Dinner
I made it back to Tatemó for dinner on 4/6. It was a solo reservation, and I sat at the bar (with a direct line of sight into the kitchen). The service was wonderful - my server took particular care
to explain each dish to me in a way that helped to contextualize the tasting menu. The progression of courses was natural and well-paced. I took advantage of the BYOB policy by bringing a Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc to support the first few courses and a
fruity, floral grenache to accompany the later, more flavored courses. I was delighted by a flurry of savory dishes that were elegantly prepared, well considered, and exceptionally designed for my vegetarian
diet. The first few dishes contained such unique touches as corn "milk" and hoja santa oil to flavor a strawberry ceviche, huitalcoche inside a mini empanada, and, of course, several different
kinds of corn. In the middle of the menu was the only item without corn; instead, it included a tortilla made of nixtamlized plantain. The dessert course included several unique, sweet expressions of corn which left me feeling
satisfied at the end of my meal.
Commentary
Tatemó's allure lies in its ability to convey a complex topic clearly and elegantly through its food.
Each course in the tasting menu carefully incorporates a seemingly straightforward ingredient in a way that is somehow both traditional and unique. It's tough not to compare Tatemó
to another upscale Mexican restaurant in Houston, Xochi, which makes clear effort to communicate a different concept: traditional Oaxacan cuisine.
But while Xochi and other restaurants like it are trying to showcase elements of a specific regional or cultural cuisine, Tatemó takes a different approach. The restaurant chooses to showcase a culturally essential ingredient -
corn - in a way that retains cultural context while still showing flexibility. Sure, the menu has several courses with "normal" items like tortillas. But it's also got a course with chochoyotes (corn dumplings) and a course with corn mousse.
For someone like me, someone who didn't grow up in a cultural context with these flavors and ingredients, Tatemó is an incredible study in how a single ingredient can influence, inform, and transform cuisine.
It's that takeaway that makes me excited to see what Tatemó does next and what other restaurants it inspires. I can't wait to dine here again.
