Neighborhood Eats: Alta Calidad in Brooklyn prepares to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, drawing inspiration from other cuisines

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, Brooklyn (WABC) — In this week’s Neighborhood Eats, we celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a unique Mexican restaurant that draws inspiration from everywhere.

Located in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, the restaurant tries to stick to the meaning of its name”High quality“, or high quality, with everything they serve to their customers.

“Alta Calidad was born to be a Mexican restaurant. Here we play other flavors, notably Indian, and something of my Mediterranean origin, but above all it is Mexican,” he said. Akhtar Nawabthe head chef and owner.

He explained his inspiration behind the menu.

“Most of my training was actually in French and Italian and the Mediterranean flavor world. When I got to New York I was still doing a lot of New American stuff at Gramercy Tavern and Kraft, and then I tried to figure out what it was that wanted to do next and Mexico showed up,” Nawab said. “You found the same level of interest and excitement in me that a more refined style of cooking can have and I discovered that the soul of Mexican food is really meaningful.”

It’s all about the flavor and how it’s presented.

“It’s the simplicity. Honestly, it’s like the same simplicity of all the Mediterranean cooking that I was doing really, it’s just here too. It’s just about making those flavors pronounced and big without a lot of manipulation and I think that’s really beautiful.” “, said. saying.

“When we first opened, the menu was much more chef-driven for many years and then when the pandemic hit everyone, we were forced to figure out what we could do to change our offering,” he said. “So we really switched to a taqueria-type menu and now it’s very hard to move away from tacos because they’re such a prominent part of the menu.”

Nawab showed off his crispy shrimp with dry chorizo ​​sauce.

“Obviously, a few different things happen at once, it’s a tempura-style crispy shrimp that has remoulade in it, except we make it with chipotle mayonnaise, and then we take all the fat from the chorizo ​​and mix it with maltodextrin and do like “It’s dry sauce, and it’s almost like a powder, but then when you squeeze the lime, it melts and almost becomes a sauce,” he said.

“We’re also going to have grilled octopus with peanut sauce macha, which is a very spicy sauce, but we’re treating it very differently with fermented black beans and a lime cream, which will be interesting,” Nawab said.

Sometimes your vegetables are the star of the show.

“We’re going to have some crispy Brussels sprouts with tamarind sauce. So, again, it’s very much inspired by that Indian inspiration when I was young, my mom used to make tamarind chutney and it’s kind of a version of that,” said. saying.

You won’t want to miss the opportunity to try their drinks and pair them with their food.

“So they also use a lot of food ingredients in the bar, now they’re using rhubarb and mango and poblano pepper, but there’s also a lot of tequila and mezcal,” he said.

Nawab said they hope Cinco de Mayo will help some new customers try it.

“We, like all restaurants, are very busy on Cinco de Mayo, but I think it’s a good way to reach people who haven’t been here before,” he said. “So, it’s a good introduction for some.”

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, Alta Calidad is opening a sidewalk cantina during the holiday with a plate of special edition beef nachos, using Waygu strip.

Reservations for Alta Calidad can be made at: https://resy.com/cities/new-york-ny/venues/alta-calidad?date=2024-04-29&seats=2

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