A new Mexican restaurant with a 10-course taco tasting opens downtown today

Eight seats, 10 courses and, if you’re so inclined, a side of agave spirits. That’s what’s in store at Casa Oaxaca, a new Mexican restaurant opening today in Battery Park City. The taco tasting will come later this year, but you can already order lobster tacos and have margaritas made right at your table.

Chef Antelmo Ambrosio, an Oaxaca native who’s cooked at Ophelia and at Maison Madison next door, draws on his home state and other parts of Mexico for the menu. Mini tacos come three to an order, with fillings like warm buttered lobster and chipotle crema, octopus al pastor with mole negro and pickled vegetables and spicy cactus with avocado and green salsa. There’s also a braised short rib with mole negro and heirloom corn purée, plus a whole branzino zarandeado with green mole, grilled lime and soft corn tortillas. (Save room for the corn tres leches, a corn sponge cake finished with toasted corn crumble and vanilla crema.)

The forthcoming $75 tasting, called Omacasa, will include eight of those mini tacos, two additional savory courses and an optional agave spirits tasting for $45. You’ll find the eight-seat counter at the back of the restaurant, tucked under a burnt-orange arch. 

In the meantime, you can have salsa made tableside, along with a margarita if you’d like to keep the table occupied. Jonathan Ortega’s drinks menu includes the Piña Diabla, a blanco tequila margarita with roasted pineapple, habanero agave and a smoked chile-salt rim. There’s also a mezcal-and-bourbon drink called Oaxaca After Dark, sweetened with piloncillo and finished with chocolate bitters and a watermelon tequila cocktail served over crushed ice in a ceramic skull with a chamoy-Tajín rim.

The restaurant comes from Abraham Merchant and James Belakh of Merchants, the team behind Maison Madison. There’s a large island bar near the entrance, deep green banquettes in the dining rooms and two patios for when the weather warms up again. Casa Oaxaca opens at 4 pm on weekdays and at noon on weekends for brunch.

Reservations are available on OpenTable and Resy.