A Mexican restaurant by the railroad tracks…but wait: This is Webster Groves and Milagro Modern Mexican is large, airy and modern. Tucked to the side of an upscale shopping precinct, slightly hard to find, it's worth the effort. The address is Allen Avenue, but rather than turning off Lockwood onto Allen, you'll do well to turn just east of Allen, an entrance that leads straight to the parking area in front of the restaurant.
There's outdoor dining in the shade cast by the building, keeping intrepid-at-this-time-of-year diners from turning into tostados, and a fair-sized bar to deal with the various and interesting-sounding tequila concoctions that are on the drinks menu. But Milagro is primarily about the food, and one good look at the menu will convince most folks of that. So does the restaurant's lineage. Chef Jason Tilford has been involved in ownership and/or cooking at the Triumph Grill and Kota Wood Fire Grill in Midtown, Barrister's in Clayton. He and his brother, Adam, opened Tortillaria in the Central West End six years ago, now have brought their take on Mexican fare to Webster Groves.
Chips are warm and fresh and so uniformly sized and shaped, so greaseless we suspect they're not done in-house. The salsa, finely chopped, had a little heat and some smokiness to it, but didn't make either of us go oooh. The margaritas, on the other hand, did. A pitcher, described as “about five glasses,” seemed a little more than that. Good-quality alcohol poured with a properly generous hand, and no flavor of the dreaded industrial margarita mix so reminiscent of kiddie lollipops.
Ceviche is a kitchen test in a couple of ways. How fresh is the fish, and how long has it been sitting in the lime juice marinade? The texture of the flesh is a sure giveaway, and this was just about perfect, neither mushy nor rubbery. So was the seasoning, a reasonable amount of spicing to allow the fish and lime to show through while still reminding a diner this is supposed to be Mexico, not the Florida Keys. Julienne of jicama added its characteristic crispness, an addition we're surprised we haven't seen before, so natural is the pairing.
Much has been made over the duck tostadas, and we couldn't resist. They are indeed handsome fellows, four miniature corn tortillas topped with a generous amount of duck, some shredded cabbage, a drizzle of a lovely sweet-hot sauce made with blood oranges and habanero pepper. The tomatillo-avocado salsa, rather than arriving on the side, was drizzled decoratively along the length of the plate. With just a little heat in the sauce, the dish was more about the textures and the duck, all swing-dancing in the mouth.
The same duck was in the enchiladas. While it tasted ducky in both dishes, the meat was so moist that it seemed as though the juices hadn't been cooked down quite enough, diluting the impact overall. But the enchiladas, made with corn tortillas, of course, were good, and the mole sauce atop them was excellent, the sort of thing that surely must have had a dozen ingredients making mystery together.
A barbacoa of lamb (originally referring to a pit roast, by the way), was chunks of tender meat braised and served with more of the fat corn tortillas, very different from the usual kind. Cumin and Mexican oregano in the gravy may remind some of chili, but this is quite different, otherwise.
On the side dish front, so to speak, we differed on the beans. Both black beans and pintos, here called charro (meaning cowboy) beans, can be had. Both were unusually good, going well beyond the snooze-inducing versions common around town. Joe preferred the black beans, his legume of choice for such things. Ann normally feels the same way, and is generally no fan at all of pintos. But these, slightly smoky and rich with meaty flavor, were remarkable to her, and her vote went to them. Another noticeable indicator of high quality and kitchen industriousness was that neither of the rice dishes showed the splayed-out-at-the-ends look of rice that's been hanging out on a steam table all evening. We preferred the cilantro rice to the Mexican (red) rice, since the seasoning was more assertive.
Tres leches cake, one of the traditional Mexican homestyle desserts, here arrives as a cupcake, The yellow sponge cake was considerably more tender than the abuela-made ones we've eaten, but still gracefully maintained its posture until we attacked it. A drizzle of raspberry sauce over the milk-soaked cake and a dollop of whipped cream topped things off. But does that make it a four-leches cake? Worthwhile, for any number.
Things were really jumping on our weekend-night visit, although service was really sharp. We strongly suggest reservations, especially on the weekends, and even more so as the start of the Rep season will draw closer.
Milagro Modern Mexican
20 Allen Ave., Webster Groves
314-962-4300
Lunch & Dinner daily
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Good
Smoking: No
Entrees: $11-$16
