[Ann Arbor] Isalita

February 24, 2013 · by Shanghai Girl · in Ann Arbor

Isalita | www.isalita.com
Address: 341A E. Liberty St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Date visited: 2013.02
Total bill: $92 + tax and tip (split among four people)
Verdict: Good ideas; a number of dishes were well executed while some others were not
Will return: Maybe
What to get:
– Truffle Guacamole
– Flautas
– Al Pastor Tacos

I never have an urge to eat Mexican food. Like actually never. But one glance at the menu and the truffle guacamole and pork belly tacos reeled me in.

Isalita is a tapas style restaurant, which means small plates of food and everything is shared. Basically, you eat small portions of a lot of things, which is very good for me and my friends who are variety pigs. I normally don’t comment on food presentation because I really don’t care how the food looks as long as it tastes good. But I have to say all the dishes had beautiful presentation; you can tell a lot of thought was put into the details.

This place does not take reservations for parties less than six. We went on a Saturday night and the place was packed like the ugli during exams week. We waited a full two hours from the time we put our names down (7pm) to when we were seated (9pm). I would come back again for the truffle guacamole, duck confit flautas, and pork belly tacos but not if I had to wait more than 30 minutes. Seriously, grab five friends so you can make a reservation.

Truffle Guacamole ($10) with jalapeno, cilantro, huitlacoche vinaigrette

This guacamole has a very thick and creamy texture and was very limey. The truffle flavor was indistinguishable after it was mixed into the guacamole to the point where I am still not sure what truffles actually taste like. This is really good overall though so definitely get this to start.

Truffle Guacamole

Spicy Tuna Ceviche ($13) with green mango, toasted coconut, pickled onions, chile serrano, lime

I don’t think the elements in this dish mix well together and I really did not like the toasted coconuts being in this dish. The tuna tasted bland (tuna usually tastes this way unless it is high quality sushi-grade tuna so I expected this) and the other elements didn’t help it.

Spicy Tuna Ceviche

Hamachi Ceviche ($12) with orange habanero sauce, citrus segments, lime granita

My friends did not like this but I did (they thought it was too fruity). Unlike the spicy tuna ceviche, I think this combination worked very well together.

Spicy Tuna Ceviche (L) and Hamachi Ceviche (R)

Flautas ($9) with duck confit, poblano avocado sauce, radish, lettuce, crema

This is duck confit rolled up in a fried tortilla. Duck confit is made by drowning duck leg meat in its own fat. Isalita put a Mexican spin on a French style dish and executed it very well.

Duck Confit Flautas

Tuna Tostadas ($12; $4 for each addition) with morita chile crema, avocado, crispy shallot

Again, the tuna was a bit bland (I know this is not something the restaurant can do anything about) but the other elements didn’t do much to enhance it. The tortilla chip was really salty. I didn’t care for this.

Tuna Tostadas

Baja Fish Tacos (3 Tacos for $12) with chipotle remoulade, avocado, pickled red cabbage

I love fish tacos (Black Pearl’s are the best; Tio’s are great as well) but these were just okay. They use fried fish stick, which inherently puts it in a lower bracket.

Each order comes with three tacos. You cannot add extra tacos, which I think is really unreasonable because 1. you can add extra portions to appetizers and 2. you would pay for extras. We had four people so this was a problem for us. I was pretty annoyed by this.

Trio of Baja Fish Tacos

Al Pastor Tacos (3 Tacos for $10) with guajillo glazed pork belly, pickled pineapple
These are absolutely amazing. The pork belly was cooked just right and had a slight charcoal/smokey taste (the good kind). This dish was perfectly executed and worth the two hour wait alone. We got two orders of these and I wish we had gotten more. I would recommend getting however many orders it requires for every person to have at least two tacos.