Café Poca Cosa - Tucson, AZ

Posted by Michael Stern on July 23, 2009

Café Poca Cosa has moved to a somewhat spectacular new location on E. Pennington in downtown Tucson. Gone is the explosion of colorful folk art everywhere. In its place is a sweeping, stylish dining room with objects of Mexican art on display as if in a museum. It's a cooler environment than before, perhaps not as hospitable-seeming as it once was. But the black-clad staff was nothing if not polite and solicitous; and more important, the food is on the same level of excellence that first put this place on the map of great southwest restaurants.

Proprietor Susanna Davila is an inspired chef, with a menu that changes a couple of times a day to reflect what chilies, spices, vegetables, and ingredients are fresh in the kitchen, and what her whim dictates. When you are seated, you are shown a portable blackboard with about a dozen choices on it, virtually all of which need to be explained. Nothing on this menu is familiar; certainly, there are no tacos, enchiladas, or burritos! Nor are there appetizers and side dishes from which to choose. Each dinner comes complete on a plate with exactly what the chef believes it should have.

You will find some glorious chicken molés, or perhaps the variant of molé known as pollo en pipian, for which boneless chicken is cosseted in sauce made from bitter chocolate, crushed red chilies, Spanish peanuts, pumpkin seeds, and cloves. You will always find a tamale pie (pasatel de elote) on the menu as a vegetarian alternative. But even if you are a devoted meat-eater, you must have it, for this tamale pie, is creamy comfort food supreme, tender as a soufflé, always dressed up a little differently, topped with vivid green chili puree or a sweet mango sauce or, on our most recent visit, curried carrots.

There is shredded beef (deshebrada) infused with smoky chili flavor and carne asada in different variations; there are seafood dishes and pork, too. Each entrée is presented heaped upon a plate along with a bright, fresh salad, so that whatever your main course is, it mixes with the greens and makes a happy mess of things. On the side come small warm corn tortillas; and for dessert, do not neglect the Mexican-flavored chocolate mousse (is that cinnamon we taste in it?) and the ultra-sultry square of flan, for which the soft custard is floated on a dish of deliriously sweet burnt-sugar syrup.

Overall: Worth driving from anyplace

19 out of 19 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

Reviewers "Must Eats" List

Plato Poca Cosa ($25.00)

Tamale Pie ($19.00)

Chicken in Pumpkin Seed Mole ($20.00)

chicken mole ($22.00)

Flan ($4.00)

"The tamale pie one day in mid July was listed as pastel de elote en zarahoria India. The creamy corn fluff was topped with spicy curried carrots. An inspired duet!"
Michael Stern

"Whole chicken breasts painted with a dark mole negro flavored with Tia Maria: complex, enticing, unbelievably delicious"
Michael Stern

"This tamale pie is topped with a puree of sweet potatoes spiced up with cinnamon. When I worried that it wouldn't be spicy enough, the waiter suggested he bring out a dish of chopped habaneros and jalapenos. That sure made it hot enough!"
Michael Stern

"This vividly spiced carne asada is spiced up with guero peppers. "
Michael Stern

"The margarita is as delicious as it is beautiful."
bearcuisinenm

"This square of creamy flan comes with enough syrup to sweeten every spoonful."
Michael Stern

"The chocolate cheesecake reminds me of a thick chocolate silk pie with cherries and flecks of orange zest."
bearcuisinenm

"Pollo chile colorado, carne asada with green peppers, onions, and roasted tomatoes, and a tamale con salsa blanco."
bearcuisinenm

"Tamale enrobed in a beet sauce, polla mole amarillo, and carne in a chipotle/plum sauce."
bearcuisinenm

"The menu changes at least twice each day, depending on what ingredients chef Susanna Davila has on hand, and what she feels like cooking at any particular time."
Michael Stern

"What a bounty of riches!"
bearcuisinenm

"A large, pleasant room with warm and inviting decor."
bearcuisinenm

"The new location of Cafe Poca Cosa does little to suggest the charm of the food within."
Michael Stern

"Tamale pie is usually the only vegetarian dinner on the menu, but it's NOT for vegetarians only. Every table needs to order at least one portion!"
Michael Stern