Date: Fri 06-Oct-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-11

Quick Words:

Mexicali-Rose-Fulco-chile

Full Text:

A Taste Of Mexico At Mexicali Rose

(with photos)

By Shannon Hicks

The smell of peppers fills the air upon entering Mexicali Rose, the new

Mexican restaurant in the corner storefront of Ricky's Shopping Center in

Newtown. Indeed, on one of the front counters in the diner-style restaurant is

a notice in a silver frame reminding customers "Chiles Are Your Friends."

Chiles, peppers, low-fat cooking, char-grilled meats and your hosts, Terri and

Valiant Fulco, are all your friends, as Newtown has finally gotten a dose of

Mexican food offerings. Terri and Val opened the doors at Mexicali Rose on

September 21 and have been "slammed," says Val, with business from the get-go.

Newtown has been hungry for something new for years, and this could be it...

"This area is considered conservative New England," Val Fulco said last week,

in between a busy lunch period and what would be another busy dinner serving.

Val serves as head chef for Mexicali Rose, with more than 20 years under his

hat working as a chef in Manhattan. His wife Terri also has years of

experience working with food, particularly healthy food, which is carrying

over into the new restaurant. The couple used to enjoy throwing dinner parties

with a theme, which blossomed eventually into the idea of opening a

restaurant.

"But Mexican has come into the mainstream," Val continued. "Mexican is

American food, and American regional is in. Cajun, southern cooking, Carolina

barbecue, the cooking of New Orleans, these are all regional cuisines.

"Mexico is America. It's North America in fact, and it's regional. So we

decided to do this. But instead of doing `Colonial' Mexico - Spanish Mexico -

which everybody does, with tomato sauces and cheeses and all that, we decided

to do the Caribbean side of Mexico, which most people have never even heard

of."

The Yucatan Peninsula is the Caribbean side of Mexico, and that gives Mexicali

Rose its different twist on its offerings. Caribbean Mexico uses more lime in

its food, the food is highly seasoned, and things are steamed in banana

leaves, for instance. The restaurant carries "regular" Mexican food - tacos,

burritos - but with a Yucatan flair: lots of seafood in the cuisine, lots of

chile peppers that most haven't even heard of yet.

In addition to cooking the food at the restaurant, Val feels it is also his

job to educate through his use of foods. A self-proclaimed cultural

anthropologist, Val says the best way to approach a culture is through its

food.

"Food is the best way to understand a culture," he said last week. "And this

is a fun cuisine to share." Most importantly, Val feels that while he takes

care to present tasty-looking food, presentation should never precedence over

flavor.

The main reason Val and Terri chose this food is, aside from being, as Val

points out, "extremely interesting," it is also low-fat by nature. For

instance, all the meats are grilled. There are a lot of salads - the Yucatan

is a mix of sliced potato, egg, avocado, red onion, mixed greens and fresh

cilantro in a lime juice and olive oil dressing; the Mexicali offers avocado,

queso fresco, tomato and greens. Terri and Val make all of the chips and salsa

in the restaurant from scratch.

It is a family affair, with daughters Heather, 17, and Marissa, 14, putting in

time for their parents after school and on weekends. Youngest daughter Zoe, 2,

also helps out.

"She eats all the chips she can," reports Terri.

Because the foods are pre-Colonial, they are also pre-European - these are the

foods the Mayans ate - so there is no cheese or butter. These are lighter

foods. And these are delicious foods that rely on the freshness of ingredients

and the skill of the cook to bring out flavors, rather than sauces that hide.

A look at the Specials board last Friday afternoon revealed Pork and Cheese

Enchiladas with a green tomatillo sauce (two for $9.95); Chile Con Carne with

rice and beans ($5.25); The Rose Frisbee - a corn and jalapeno crust, with

cheddar, onions, chorizo (a pork sausage highly seasoned with, among other

things, cayenne peppers and pimentos), tomatoes and sour cream ($6.25); and

Jalapeno Maple Glazed Chicken over rice ($6.50).

Regular staples on the menu include Nachos, served with choice of chicken,

beef or chorizo, or without a meat ($4.95, $3.95); Quesadillas ($5.25), which

comes two to a serving; Tacos ($1.75); Fajitas, again with choice of Beef,

Chicken or Pork with peppers, onions and salsa ($3.95); and Burritos,

available with meat or a vegetarian version ($3.95, $2.25).

The chicken quesadillas sampled were absolutely divine! The tortillas are

soft, with a lightly toasted crispiness to them, and the filling was a taste

of perfection. Chicken, grilled onion and two kinds of cheese, with slices of

avocado tucked inside.

The accompanying corn chips were served warm, are lightly salted, and have

that just-baked freshness to them. The chipolte salsa is also delicious. It is

spicy, with a kick to it from the chile added in the salsa. The house salsa is

a milder blend for those who can't take the heat of the chipolte.

There is also something on the menu called Mexi-Cheese Steak, which is a

char-grilled steak smothered with onions and melted cheese on a soft flour

tortilla, for $5.50. Add a side of Val's Mexi-Fries - his own creation: a

Mexican version of a Cajun fry, with Mexican spices, sugar and salt - for just

$1.25 more, and you've got a full meal for under $7. All of the prices at

Mexicali Rose's are cost-conscious.

Soups are also available, with Black Bean (topped with cilantro, raw onion and

sour cream) always on the menu, and a Soup of the Day always offered. Desserts

are offerings like macadamia nut/chocolate chip cookies, flan, and

pineapple/coconut bars, but this section of the menu will expand once the

restaurant finds its permanent baker.

The Fulcos are also re-creating the fun of Caribbean Mexico.

"This is not the place to come for a quiet, sit-down dark dinner," Val said.

"We don't want people to be inhibited to come in, unless they're inhibited to

have fun."

The Fulcos set out to create a roadside diner look, and they have succeeded.

The owners have covered the walls, floor and ceiling with the

Yucatan/Caribbean colors of coral, periwinkle, yellow, pink and aquamarine.

Cacti fill the front window, tin signs and various pictures adorn the walls,

sort of Art Deco meets Old West in a 50s diner motif. Sounds odd, but it

works.

The decorations are bright, vibrant and eye-catching - from the stringed

peppers on the right wall to the cactus lights on the left, a donkey pinata on

the shelf above the counters to the plastic snakes on the eating counter in

the front of the store. Like a good, detailed movie, each time you visit

Mexicali Rose, you will probably spot something in the decor you hadn't

noticed previously.

And while you are looking around the restaurant at the decorations, there are

plenty of items on the menu to discover, as well. Ole!