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A Topolobampo Review: this may have just become our favorite restaurant.

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Florence Fabricant of The New York Times calls Rick Bayless’ Topolabampo “Possibly the most elegant and serious Mexican restaurant in the country.” I can tell you that I’ve been to no other place like it. It’s Mexican food elevated to the level of French food, and no matter how much I’m going to rave about it in the following post, it was better than even that.

Some friends bought my husband and I a seven-course tasting menu plus wine pairing at Topolo as a wedding gift last summer. We used it to celebrate our six-month anniversary a few weeks ago. It was the most wonderful evening we’ve had since the wedding. I’m telling you, it was transcendent. Here’s what we had:

Pre-Colombian Tasting Menu

The tasting menu periodically changes. The current one is pre-Columbian, which means it was made from foods that would’ve been available to the people of what is now Mexico, before the arrival of Westerners: no wheat flour, no refined sugar … instead, an amazing array of things I’ve never tasted before. For someone like me with a wide palate, a fearless curiosity, and for whom dining out is a major past time, something this out of the ordinary is a rare pleasure.

First Course

Hiramosa Yellowtail, Pineapple, Achiote, paired with Bründlmayer Brut Rosé. Achiote is a mildly peppery, yellow spice. The broth that came with this dish was tantalizing. The cool, sweet broth played against the spiciness in a way that made my head spin.

Before starting in on this course, I had a Black-Pepper Pear Margarita: Milagro reposado tequila, Mathilde Poire liqueur, black pepper dram, Cointreau, fresh lime juice. You should try it. The server brought the drink to the table with a small (less than the size of a golf ball) sachet made of what looked like cheesecloth, and shook it over the glass, and through it fell the finest, most delicate dusting of pepper. This margarita was lovely.

Second Course

Scallop, Shrimp, Cascabel Chile, paired with Louis Michel & Fils Chablis. The wine pourings were generous. It was through them that I discovered that there are two kinds of people in this world. First, there are the kind who feel that, because there are seven wines to taste, it’s not necessary to finish each of them. Then there are the kind who, laying claim (rather slipshodishly) to the “never waste food” dictum, and invoking the “especially when it’s this expensive” amendment, drink all of their wine, plus all the wine their husband doesn’t want to finish. I do not recommend this practice. I’m not going to say I got capsized, but I did take on water and sort-of floated out of the restaurant.

Third Course

Butternut, Toksel, Pumpkinseed Pipian, paired with Luis A, Rodriguez Viña De Martin.

I’m letting some of these dishes speak for themselves. Click on the images to be blown away by their full descriptions. Meanwhile, let me take a moment to talk about the ambiance at Topolo. If you’ve been to Frontera, it’s nothing like that. It’s elegant where Frontera is upscale, posh where Frontera’s trendy. The tables are dressed with linens, and they’re spaced luxuriously far away from one another. The place bustles with servers. Most of the floor staff is from Mexico – I applaud you, Rick Bayless, for that.

Fourth Course

Rabbit, Pulque Sauce, Coconut, paired with Anne-Sophie Dubois Beujolais. Pulque is an ancient, fermented agave drink that was a precursor to what would eventually become tequila. It’s nothing like tequila, though. It’s fermented, not distilled. It’s milky and has fruity notes. By this time in my meal, my appetite was humming like a steam engine, and I was fully primed to Bacchanal, so this rabbit course could not’ve been better timed. I’ve had rabbit plenty of times, but never like this. Two medallions of the most succulent meat, bathing in a sauce that only my very best manners kept me from licking off the plate. Who would think rabbit and coconut would make such a rich pairing? Heavenly.

Fifth Course

Duck, Pasilla Chile, Wild Mushrooms, paired with Dom. Anne Gros & Jean-Paul Tollot “Les Carrétals” Minervois. Although I always start a tasting thinking I’ll probably need a drive-thru burger afterward in order not to go to bed hungry, it’s never the case. By this time in the meal, I wasn’t hungry, but I still had plenty of room for a few more small plates. Now I was eating for sheer pleasure, and this dish was opulent with flavor: smoked duck plus duck confit, chile, cacao, roasted tomato, charred mushrooms, wild onion, agave – I felt exactly like Isolde, at the very moment that she transcends life (dies of love) in the climax of Liebestod, and the remaining dishes were the long, slow, beautiful winding down of the orchestra.

Sixth Course

Avocado, Tomatillo, Ground Cherry, paired with Cascinetta Vietti Moscato d’Asti. I think there was a bit more time between this and the previous course than there were between any of the others, and I needed it. This was light and refreshing, and brought me back down to earth. I would not’ve noticed in a million years that refined sugar wasn’t used in either of the desserts. Yes, avocado, tomatillo, and cherry was the first dessert course, and it was exquisite!

You’ll notice I’m not listing prices. The friends who gave us this gift arranged pre-arranged the handling of the payment. At the end of the meal, our server asked if we were at least curious to see the bill, and we both happily said no.

Seventh Course

Chocolate, Camote, Coconut, paired with Toro Albalá Cream PX. A camote is a sweet potato, which stood in for flour in this flourless chocolate “pudding cake.”

Both of us by this time had cemented our love of this restaurant. I believe it is my absolute favorite restaurant. I’m not sure I can let Les Nomades out of the number one position, so I have to make that statement conditionally, even though I suspect it’s true. This will be the meal that all future meals are measured against. (5 / 5)

Let me tell you something, if you ever want to buy something for someone that will make them very happy, this is it. We had a night that we will remember fondly for a long, long time. It such a wonderful thing to save for the half-way point in our first married year, and equally wonderful to think about what great friends we have as we enjoyed the evening.

A Topolabampo Review

Credit for images on this page come from a guide that was given to us when we ordered our meal. This content was not solicited, nor written in exchange for anything.

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