If you’re a fan of the pomp and kitsch at Wusong Road in Harvard Square, then you’ll be down with Gato Exotico, the restaurant that opened late last year at the CambridgeSide mall. This makes sense: The Mexican cantina is the latest culinary-destination-cum-social-club from Wusong proprietor Jason Doo.
The vibe at Gato is similar to Wusong — playful, inviting, nostalgic — but the cuisine comes from a vastly different part of the world. Where Wusong serves Asian/Polynesian bar tapas, Gato goes full Mexican cantina. Be prepared to get messy.
The pop at Gato Exotico is the appetizer list that features Dori-nachos (the chips are in fact Doritos — sinful, right?); cheesy nacho spins on poutine; papas fritas (French fries); and glorious guacamole that’s smooth, silky and rich. The flautas come stuffed with coffee-braised brisket, and my favorite dish, the coctel de camarones, is basically a shrimp cocktail chock-full of tender Gulf shrimp in a tangy salsa bowl with plenty of fresh cilantro and topped with ripe avocado wedges. The salsas and guacs at Gato are made with high-quality ingredients, and it shows. The menu also includes house-made tamales, tender street corn and a cowboy stew with beans, bacon and chorizo.
The dinner menu, an expansion of the lunch slate, features tortas, quesadillas and tacos filled with standard chicken tinga, carne asada, conchinita pibil (slow-braised pork shoulder) and grilled veggies. Tacos also come in some offbeat versions: beef tongue, cauliflower mole, grilled nopales (cactus) and vegan chorizo. The taco pescado frito (tempura-fried mahi-mahi) with mango salsa was the clear standout, flaky and moist with a sweet and tangy accent.
For bigger dishes, the carne asada plato arrives with refried beans, Mexican rice and tortillas, should you want to rekindle that fajita-rolling magic of the dearly departed Border Cafe (the beloved Harvard Square outpost that’s now a Painted Burro), and chicken or cheese enchiladas that come with a red or verde sauce, or both. You get three, but it’s a manageable in size and comparable to the enchilada platters served at other recently departed Tex-Mex fixtures, Jose’s (near Danehy Park) and Rudy’s (Teele Square).
The price point is muy reasonable — tacos are $5-$7 a pop — though drinks at $10 to $20 apiece are more of an upscale lean on your wallet. The extensive margarita listing includes mango and strawberry options. Some drinks arrive in Aztec- and cat-styled tiki mugs: As you can guess from the restaurant’s name, feline flair is in the air — plump porcelain kitty effigies line the bar and the wall. The “employee of the month” is a cat.
Quirkiness abounds. Folks who dig Doo’s mini Easter-Island-style statues outside the Conductor’s Building on Mount Auburn Street will delight in Gato’s stone Aztec countenances and vibrant Mesoamerican decor.
Since it’s only been open for a few months, Gato Exotico is still feeling things out. Brunch is a future possibility and there are always specials. Gato fully embraced a recent Margarita Week with a slate of specialty margaritas, including a mezcal spin on a Negroni and an impressive clarified margarita that came in a mini decanter.
Gato opened in a former mall space that’s being transformed into a community hub (with housing, and office/lab and retail space). The new restaurant’s disco balls and rainforest-style entryway — an immersive world that’s part fantasy and all nods and winks — is a welcome addition to this changing landscape, and a far more intimate social experience than the spare CanalSide Food + Drink at the other end of CambridgeSide. I’m already imagining my next visit, with an order of the governor’s quesadilla (sautéed shrimp) and the hope that the clarified margarita has landed on the regular menu.
A stronger
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