Restaurant Review: Corima in Manhattan

I’m Ligaya Mishan, chief restaurant critic for The New York Times, and this week I reviewed Corima, an experimental Mexican restaurant opened on Allen Street, the border between Chinatown and the Lower East Side. When booking a reservation, you must choose between the $140 tasting menu or à la carte. I understand the allure of a tasting menu for chefs as a way of staking a claim as an artist. Maybe a tasting menu, with its hushed isolation, it’s just too lonely a proposition for a restaurant that prizes the communal spirit. At Corima, the crowd is part of the point. It feels right to share plates, squabble over them. Fidel Caballero, the chef, he makes his tortillas not with lard but with butter, and adds sourdough starter, which gives them tang and tenderness. Surf clam is kissed on the grill and sliced fine so that it’s all gentle sweetness. Then, paired with lap cheong, bought from around the corner on Canal Street. Maybe my absolute favorite was the esquites. Here it’s re-engineered as risotto. It’s slow-cooked with a dashi of corn husks instead of kombu, paired with mushrooms crisped on the plancha until they’re as caramel-edged as carnitas. A tlayuda is a monumental tortilla from Oaxaca. So here what you’re getting is a piece of a tlayuda. It’s baked hard so that it can hold up whatever is layered on top. And here that’s ruffles of cecina. The beef is cut so thin, yet so plush. Trying to keep track of all the ingredients can be bewildering. Servers valiantly explain each dish as it’s delivered, but the room is too loud to hear them, so surrender. Let yourself be surprised. Isn’t that how you learn a new language? You can read the full review at The New York Times.