Mundial Picks Up The Pieces
By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jun 16, 2009 5:00PM
Much has been written about the splitting of former Mundial owners/chefs Kate and Eusebio Garcia and what they're currently doing. We've even visited Amelia's, Eusebio Garcia's new oasis in the restaurant desert of Canaryville. While the Garcias personal issues have been front and center, one fact remains: Mundial's third partner, Mario Cota, still has the doors open to the popular Pilsen outpost.
In the wake of the Garcias departure, Cota hired KDK restaurant veteran Hector Marcial, who most recently was cooking on a cruise line, to help pick up the pieces. Gone are the winning mix of Mexican, Central American and savory Mediterranean flavors that marked Mundial under the Garcias. Marcial's new menus are teeming with dishes that wouldn't seem out of place at Adobo Grill or Topobolampo, which is good company to be among.
Where the Garcia-era Mundial menus were ambitious explorations of seemingly opposite flavors, epitomized by Eusebio's signature salmon al carbon, Marcial's dishes draw from classic Mexican flavors for inspiration. As a result, Marcial's menus seem more focused and stronger, top-to-bottom. Business, meanwhile, hasn't skipped a beat. Sunday brunch and dinner service are still busy, although Kevin and yours truly were the only folks in the dining room on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Service also seems to flow better when the dining room is full. Still, with Marcial in the kitchen, Cota has done a commendable job of making the best of a possibly catastrophic situation.