arts & life
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Feel The Heat
Get a ‘kick’ at Huerto Mexican Restaurant and Tequila Bar.
Allison Jacobs | Special to the Jewish News
L
ooking to add a kick to your din-
ing routine? Head over to West
Bloomfield for some appetizing
Mexican-style cuisine.
Huerto Mexican Restaurant and Tequila
Bar on Orchard Lake Road far surpasses
your average Tex-Mex burrito chain, with
affordable prices, homemade dishes and a
welcoming ambiance.
Today’s Huerto drastically differs from the
one you may have tried back in 2013, when
it first opened. In the beginning of Huerto’s
existence, the restaurant’s mixed reviews and
standard menu weren’t attracting custom-
ers as rapidly as owner and Michigan native
Mark Mendola had hoped.
To counter that trend, Mendola upped the
freshness factor with starters like guacamole
made from scratch. Free crispy tortilla chips
and a generous portion of salsa are served at
the start of the meal.
Start with an appetizer, like Mexiskins,
crisp potato skins topped with chorizo, then
smothered in melted cheese, diced tomatoes
and chopped scallions and served with fresh
sour cream.
The quesadilla appetizer is also a delight
and can easily pose as an entree. The fajita-
style chicken perfectly complements the
melted cheese interior, but guests
can also opt for shredded beef and
chicken, steak or shrimp. Plentiful
sides include pico de gallo, guaca-
mole, sour cream and rice.
For dinner, a favorite of Huerto-
goers are the sizzling fajitas. Diners
can select various protein options
including chicken, shrimp, steak or a
combo. Presented table-side in a steaming
skillet with plenty of vegetables and zesty
seasonings, this dish is served with a side of
warm flour tortillas and flavorful rice and
beans.
An interesting take on a traditional taco is
the buffalo shrimp taco, flour tortilla stuffed
with hand-battered shrimp, deep-fried and
tossed in Huerto’s hot sauce and topped with
shredded cabbage, fresh cilantro, pico and
creamy popper sauce.
If you’re simply not in a Mexican food
mood, Huerto’s menu spans far beyond
traditional fare, with popular items such as
tender ribs and hearty burgers.
Dessert offerings include the Chocolate
Chimi, rich, Hershey’s chocolate and roasted
almonds wrapped in a soft flour tortilla,
then deep-fried until it’s golden crispy on
the outside, or the Tres Leches Cake, sponge
cake soaked in a
traditional blend
of three sweet milks
until it’s supremely
moist and custard-like in
flavor.
In addition to an array of lunch and din-
ner selections, their drinks will not disap-
point. They offer more than 90 varieties of
tequila and mezcal, which can stand alone or
are featured in their specialty margaritas.
Must-have cocktails include the Michigan
Cherry Margarita, which offers a blend of
sweet and tart, and the Huerto Margarita,
featuring Lunazul Reposado Tequila,
Contreau Noir, fresh-squeezed lime juice and
simple syrup on the rocks.
A tequila aficionado himself, Mendola
is known to go out of his way to purchase
brands specifically requested by customers,
along with locally sourced brews.
“Our drinks have constantly evolved,”
Mendola says. “We’re using more home-
brewed beers to support the greater com-
munities, and we want to support local
distillers.”
Mendola continues to look for ways to
please his customres. He hires talented bands
on Friday and Saturday evenings, and is
pleased to see guests dancing and bopping
their heads along to Latin-contemporary
tunes.
Plans to re-vamp the outdoor patio with
new furniture are currently in the works.
Scheduled to open on Cinco de Mayo, the
outdoor patio, with its own fireplace and
plenty of seating, is yet another reason to
spend an afternoon or evening at Huerto.
*
Huerto Mexican Restaurant
and Tequila Bar
6199 Orchard Lake Road
West Bloomfield
(248) 865-2900
huertotequilabar.com
Avalon To Call Downtown Cafe ‘Hearth And Soul’
Martin Michalek
Special to the Jewish News
W
arm scones and breakfast
sandwiches will be served
all morning at Avalon
International Bread’s new cafe in Downtown
Detroit at 1049 Woodward Ave. The cafe will
be called Hearth and Soul and fill a vacancy
in a Bedrock Real Estate Services-managed
property near Campus Martius.
Right now, patrons looking for fresh cof-
fee and flaky-crusted bread line up outside
Avalon’s Midtown shop before it opens at
6 a.m. When Avalon originally opened in
1997, Detroit’s noteworthy “Cass Corridor”
neighborhood (which runs alongside Cass
Avenue from the Masonic Temple up to
Wayne State) had little investment. Avalon
helped change the neighborhood into a pre-
mier destination. (To convey just how much
the Cass Corridor area has evolved into the
larger Midtown, consider that President
Barack Obama lunched there last month
during his visit to the auto show.)
Jackie Victor, who is the founder and
proprietor of Avalon International Breads,
54 February 4 • 2016
Jackie Victor
says the name Hearth
and Soul has twinned
meanings. “Avalon has
been the hearth and soul
of Detroit since 1997,
and we’re going to still
be that in Downtown.
The hearth will bring
that warm feeling you
get when you walk into
a bakery,” she says, “but
on the soul side, we want
to make sure this food is
healthy.”
When Victor says healthy, she doesn’t
mean just for the body, but also for the local
food economy; menu items will be seasonal
and made with locally sourced food.
“We’ll serve soups and salads made with
locally grown produce and spreads made
with locally grown beans. Menu items will
be put together in really interesting combi-
nations that complement the integrity of the
ingredients,” Victor says.
The familiar items people know and love
will still be there, but newly hired executive
Evan Gonzalez
Jackie Victor’s popular bakery to open new location on Woodward Avenue.
chef Maggie Long (former
proprietor of the Ann
Arbor/Detroit restaurants
called the Jolly Pumpkin)
will add “some really deli-
cious light breakfast offer-
ings,” Victor adds.
Pancakes, oats, and hot
grains will all be served in
the morning to keep folks
smiling. And for those
whose mornings need an
aromatic cup of coffee, the
cafe will serve a warming roast called the
Hearth and Soul b lend.
During lunch hours, Avalon’s Hearth and
Soul cafe will have hearty soups and crisp
salads made with fresh greens, all of which
are grown in the Motor City.
“There will be other hot items in addi-
tion to the soups and salads,” Victor notes,
though the details of Avalon’s lunch and din-
ner menus are still being finalized. “For the
first time, we’ll be offering dinner options,
which we’re still planning. Patrons can
expect light cafe offerings with interesting
soul food.”
Catering will be available during breakfast
and lunch hours, which Victor says will be
a major part of the Downtown business
model.
“We’re developing a whole new catering
arm for breakfast and lunch to make sure
Detroit stays healthy and well fed. There are
50,000 people within a five-minute walk in
Downtown Detroit so it’ll be really fun to
be in the middle of a place with that many
people.”
Expanding Avalon’s operations also means
more workers, with 25 new jobs on the way
and more food being brought by local farm-
ers.
“The cafe signifies an expansion not only
in terms of foods we offer, but also in the
jobs to be created,” Victor says.
Avalon, which currently employs 65 peo-
ple, will grow to a team of 90. “I’m excited to
focus on the healthy edge of eating, which
is how so many of us want to eat on a daily
basis.”
Hearth and Soul’s 2,900-square-foot cafe
is expected to open this summer.
*