Distrito

Other dishes simply upgraded humble cuts with luxury ingredients, such as the tacos topped with seared kobe steak and truffled mashed potatoes, or seared duck breast for the rich mole Poblano, or a slow-braised suite of veal (tongue, cheek, and marrow), instead of the usual cow. The thick marrow bones, presented hot like primal bookends around a bundle of homemade tortillas, were among my few disappointments - only because I couldn't dig out nearly enough buttery marrow to go with the bacon marmalade.

It's mostly a small-plate menu, so some portions have been just that (and the bill adds up quickly after three or four). Distrito recently added larger sharing entrees as a hungry-hombre option. But there are too many not-to-be-missed menu gems, so small plates work for those who cannot choose.

Among them are some modern deconstructions of traditional dishes, like the Veracruz ceviche, which puts a twist on the usual red snapper in piquant tomato-caper-olive sauce. This snapper comes sashimi-style beneath "pearls" of scooped avocado, and layered between two renditions of the classic Veracruz sauce - one stewed and pureed, one raw and crunchy. The "esquites" transforms the street food of crema-glazed corn on the cob into an elegant parfait of corn niblets layered with epazote and warm chipotle-spiced cream.

There's a soulful duck barbacoa stew hidden beneath the bubbling cheese of queso fundido. Crispy little half-moon quesadillas are stuffed with silky calabaza pumpkin and curdy crumbles of requesón cheese, then set over a two-tone sauce (black bean; poblano-avocado) scattered with snappy pumpkin seeds.

Distrito's fried-fish tacos, with yellowtail served open-face instead of the tightly wrapped mahimahi at El Vez, is one notable dish where Jose the Elder did not best his younger self. But I've already moved on to the tuna tacos, a stunning fusion combo of adobo-seared ruby fish, wasabi crema, lime-pickled veggies, and peanuts that is a preview of the Asian-Latin moves he'll be working at Chifa, the Peruvian-Chinese concept that is the next challenge up for Garces, as hungry with ambition as ever.

For now, at least, he's done a crafty job taking the Mexican inspirations of his early career to the next level. As we savored a finale of stunning desserts - crispy grooved churros with cinnamon-spiced dunking chocolate; densely creamy coconut flan; sublimely moist tres leches set beneath a cloud of toasty meringue and a confetti of tropical fruits - I realized that we were the only ones left wrestling over the plates at Distrito, grappling for the last bite.