Bill Addison reviews Josef Centeno's Tex-Mex restaurant Amacita in Culver City.
Before the geometrically pleasing fruit salad at Amá•cita, before yellowtail ceviche with crisp threads of jicama, and roasted chicken zinged by pico de gallo, and fried tacos extracted from a mass of red cabbage, there is Josef Centeno’s queso to start the meal. Do not resist. If you attempt to order only guacamole to pair with the chips and salsa that land quickly on the table, servers will likely ask, “Do you want queso too?” The answer is yes.
This is alchemist’s queso, unlikely elements turned to molten gold. The mixture indeed includes Velveeta; processed cheese imparts a necessary smoothness, and Centeno knows better than to fight it. He also tinkers ingeniously. Cheddar and Monterey Jack add hearty tang and textural substance. The sneaky kicker is Brebirousse d’Argental, a bloomy rind Lyonnaise sheep’s milk cheese with restrained pungency and otherworldly creaminess. Its presence makes the queso comforting but not too comfortable.
The dip arrives in a small 1970s-era brown crock, with garnishes of crema, concentrated tomato salsa and crumbled ricotta salata for surprise flickers of sharpness. It is narcotic in its appeal, chip after submerged chip. The amazing thing about this stuff is how it retains its pull even as it starts to cool. The consistency doesn’t become plasticky or gluey like most queso; it stays silky, and the tiers of flavor keep revealing themselves.
Amá•cita, wholly approachable, feels like a workshop where Centeno is working out new equations. If one can pin a label to the menu, it’s Tex-Cal-Mex. Dishes under the vegetable section rotate so quickly the changes may not be reflected on the printed sheet. A duo of sliced pluot and melon needs little embellishment, sprinkled with feta and crunchy, seedyfor salt and contrast. Recently plums and cherry tomatoes huddled together, bound by green goddess dressing, pecorino and a stickychile crema that burns hotter than you might expect.
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