Uno Estrella Por El Toro Blanco

[lauren decicca for the times] lobster puerto nuevoJohn McDonald and Josh Capon are the guys behind Lure Fish Bar and B & B. El Toro Blanco, their most recent venture, is a new addition to the white-hot trend of hip Mexican restaurants (Salvation Taco is the newest), and it's on the receiving end of a colorful one-star review from Pete Wells this week.

Josh Capon built out the menu with Scott Linquist, who has worked on both coasts making contemporary Mexican cuisine. A pan of chorizo fundido was a big hit with Wells and co., leaving Wells to desribe the dish as one "in which Mexico looks Switzerland calmly in the eye and says, “I’ll see your cheese fondue and raise you some green chiles and a heap of crumbled spicy sausage.” (Switzerland folds and leaves the room.)"

"The look of El Toro Blanco," writes Wells, "is the latest sign that in New York City, Mexican cuisine is cool, of the moment and ready to be presented without quotation marks." Alex Stupak definitely helped get that palota rolling when he opened Empellon Taqueria and Empellon Cocina less than a year apart. Calexico helped get the fuego burning. Park Slopes's Fonda landed an outpost in the East Village last year. Dos Toros is settled in. Hecho in Dumbo is still a fresh favorite. There's Gran Electrica...