Restaurant review: Masa a stylish blend of Mexico, Minnesota

Masa is Mexican, but not too Mexican.

The Mexican dining scene is flourishing in the Twin Cities, thanks to our rapidly growing Mexican population, but the stylish new D'Amico & Partners' Mexican-themed restaurant is a world apart from places such as La Perla del Pacifico in Minneapolis, or the El Burrito cafeteria in St. Paul, both of which cater to a Mexican clientele.

While those restaurants emphasize authentic flavors and low prices, Masa's strong suit is style and presentation, aimed at young professionals. You aren't likely to find very many of La Perla's customers dining at Masa, or Masa's customers at El Nuevo Rodeo in Minneapolis.

The decor has the very contemporary sophisticated feel we have come to expect from D'Amico & Partners, with a bar bathed in a backlit orange glow and billowing fabric screens overhead. To bridge the gap between cultures, the walls are lined with fashion notebook sketches of urban Mexican beautiful people, whose lifestyles and complexions more closely match Masa's diners than do the working-class clientele of local taquerias. In a way, Masa resembles Azia, the fusion restaurant a little farther south on Nicollet: foreign flavors adapted to American tastes, in a stylish setting.

Masa's menu offers traditional south-of-the-border fare, given a haute cuisine (or in this case, alta cocina) treatment. Portions are smaller and prices are higher than at the neighborhood Mexican restaurants, but still very reasonable by downtown standards. Most entrees are in the $15 to $18 range, and the most expensive dish, a rib-eye steak with chipotle ancho butter, is only $22.

To judge by the dishes that I have sampled so far, chef Saul Chavez seems to have toned down his seasonings for his north-of-the-border clientele. That play-it-safe approach makes sense, but lovers of authentic Mexican flavors may be disappointed.

When I invited my friends Jerry and Carmen to accompany me to dinner, they had the same complaint: The dishes were pretty to look at, but weren't as flavorful as the fare in Carmen's native Michoacan, which happens to be the same Mexican state where chef Chavez grew up. That lack of flavor seemed especially true of dishes such as the seafood enchilada, whose pumpkin seed sauce was sparse and bland, and the baby chicken in Yucatecan marinade.

My favorites among the appetizers and small dishes included the queso frito, cubes of fresh cheese lightly pan-fried and topped with a fresh tomatillo salsa, and the coctel de camarones, chunks of cooked shrimp in a lively tomato-based cocktail sauce seasoned with cilantro and serrano chiles. The same combination of tomato, serrano chiles and cilantro also made an appearance in the fresh and flavorful guacamole, and in the less exciting seviche, small cubes of sea bass marinated in lime juice. The sopes surtidos are also recommended: small boats of masa (corn meal) with three different toppings: roasted poblano peppers and onions; potato and chorizo sausage, and shredded chicken with a chipotle cream sauce.

Best of the entrees included the shrimp in a spicy but not overpowering guajillo pepper sauce, the sea bass in a zingy ancho piqiuin salsa, and the pozole, a faithful rendition of the traditional pork and hominy soup. The rib-eye in chipotle ancho butter wasn't as intensely flavorful as the cheap thin pounded and marinated carne asada that neighborhood Mexican eateries offer, but it was still a very tasty cut of beef, and a lot more tender. Same goes for the puerco Veracruzana, marinated in lime, garlic and ancho chile and baked in a banana leaf: the presentation was gorgeous and the flavor was fine, but not as intense as Mexican cooks sometimes achieve with more aggressive seasoning and less lean cuts of meat.

The desserts were terrific. The buttered crêpes with cajeta (goat's milk caramel) and candied pecans were sublime, and the creamy coconut flan was just like its French and Spanish cousins, only richer and better. Churros, long tubes of fried dough, are street food in Mexico, but here they are served warm with a Mexican chocolate dipping sauce, and it is hard to imagine a more heavenly combination.

Bottom line: Gastronomic adventurers might be happier at a neighborhood taqueria, but Masa offers a level of style and ambience that the more authentic Mexican eateries can't match. If chef Chavez decides to be a bit bolder with his flavors, diners could have the best of both worlds. It's still early days, and the restaurant has a lot of potential, so I will be eager to give Masa another try, a few months down the road.

Location: 1170 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, 612-338-6272.

Hours: Lunch Monday through Friday 11 to 2:30 p.m., dinner Sunday through Thursday 5 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5 to 11 p.m.

Atmosphere: Stylish contemporary ambiance with Mexican accents.

Sound level: Can be quite loud when the dining room is busy.

Recommended dishes: Queso frito, shrimp with guajillo salsa, crepes de cajeta.

Price range: Lunch entrées, $7.25 to $16.50; dinner entrées, $12.50 to $22.