Let’s taco ‘bout it
Yuc! | Norrtullsgatan 15 | 08-30 00 81 |yuc.se
“If you don’t like coriander, go to Taco bar!”
In a long post on Facebook, debater, nightlife impresario and restaurateur Damon Rasti tells the story of Yuc!, a Mexican restaurant that has opened up a stone’s throw from the tunnelbana station at Odenplan. The quote he includes is from one of his chefs, who jokingly suggested that it become the restaurant’s tagline. In the post, Rasti goes on to explain the restaurant concept, urging us to forget everything we know about tacos and pointing out that coriander (also called cilantro) is a “must” in Mexican cuisine.
Opened early March, Yuc! is perhaps one of the city’s worst-kept culinary secrets. Nevertheless, the website offers no further explanation than the essential: opening hours, an address and a link to a booking page. I walked by the street address twice before realizing that the restaurant didn’t even have a sign. But what Yuc! lacks in communications skills, it makes up for in good food, delicious cocktails and friendly staff. Exactly how I imagine a night out on the Yucatán peninsula – the area where the restaurant obviously draws its inspiration from – would go down.
The Yerba Brava cocktail (118 kronor) kicks off the night with an explosion of flavours created by a mix of pisco, Fernet Branca, cucumber, lemon, sugar and emoliente. Emoliente, it turns out, is a Peruvian beverage that has been sold by street vendors in Lima for more than a century. Made up of a mix of herbs, it is loved for both its sweet soothing flavour and for its medicinal properties. The cocktail program is the work of bartender Jorge Quintana, formerly at Miss Voon, and is focused around South American classics such as tequila, mescal and pisco.
Although the exterior is an anonymous one, the opposite can be said about the interior. Cristian Lind, a vintage dealer connected to the Grandpa stores, envisioned a look that was genuinely Mexican, but without relying on stereotypical Mexican clichés. Instead, Lind opted for a design reminiscent of a South American street festival, with art installations, bare light bulbs, colourful mini-bulb strands and brightly painted patio furniture.
The menu is divided into several sections: tacos, taquitos (which is essentially a smaller taco), ceviche, sides and postres (desserts). In accordance with current eating trends, all dishes are of size “medium” – thus excellent for ordering a bit of everything and share amongst friends. Head chef Ragnar Palacio, with origins in Mexico, knows a thing or two about making tacos, which seem to be the restaurant’s main forte. The two pollo loco tacos (85 kronor) are filled with double-crumbed pieces of fried chicken served with a jalapeno and cheddar sauce and are to die for. The barbacoa (85 kronor), spicy chuck steak slow-cooked in a norteño (northern Mexico) fashion, give my taste buds a jolt of energy. But best of all is the crudo (90 kronor), which also happens to be the joint’s bestseller. A Korean beef tartar is topped with small licks of secret sauce, where the popular Mexican hot sauce Valentina is the most recognisable ingredient. Also delicious, but not quite as memorable as Yuc!’s tacos and taquitos, is the halibut and scallops ceviche (100 kronor) and the side of fried sweet potatoes and chimichurri (55 kronor).
And in regards to the coriander… if you’re not a fan, you are forgiven, even at Yuc! A 2009 study by Charles J. Wysocki, a behavioral neuroscientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, reveals that a hatred of cilantro may be a genetic trait, so it really isn’t your fault if you can’t enjoy it. Just please make sure you inform your server of your genetic anomaly before you order.
