Distrito Celebrates 5 Years With New Menu Items (And A Tasting Menu)

Been looking for an excuse to get back to Distrito? We’re here to help.

Reason number one, you could just go back to wish the place a happy 5th birthday–which is something best done by toasting it with shots of crazy-expensive small-batch tequila or mezcal. We suggest the Del Maguey, but we’re very particular about our cactus juice.

Second, you should go to check out the revamped menu that Jose Garces and his chef de cuisine Susan Vanvreerde have put together to mark the passing of such a momentous anniversary. There are 20 new plates on the board–everything from chicharones and JG steak tacos to Salpicon de Langosta, made with chilled Maine lobster with purple potatoes, a chipotle-lime aioli and sesame brittle.

Third, there’s a revamped happy hour menu with new food and drink deals (hit the place up on Taco Tuesdays for the best value–$2 tacos ’til 7pm).

But most interesting (at least to us) are the two tasting menus being offered. The first, called “Diego Rivera,” is a spread of the house’s most popular dishes. But the second (called “Frida Kahlo”) gets you a bunch of off-menu dishes created each night by the chef, and that’s the more interesting one to me. Sure, there’s a chance at getting something that doesn’t work as well as the tried-and-true tacos and gorditas, but there’s an equal or better chance of getting something fresh and exciting once the kitchen is loosed from the grind of knocking out the same menu night after night. That’s the excitement of tasting menus, after all–the possibility of small risk and great reward.

Distrito [Official]