LA VIDA URBANA
From fiesta to food coma: a Mexican tale.
El Publico, Beaufort Street's mod-Mexican fiesta destination, is a fun place to eat. How could it not be? The food is fresh, highly shareable and flirts with innovation whilst retaining authentic foundations. The drinks menu leans heavily on everyone's favourite party spirit, tequila. And the service, although sometimes thin on the ground in the crowds, is well-intentioned and cheerful. That's a recipe for success, and so it's no surprise that on any given evening, the pink neon donkey that serves as El Publico's logo/mascot/patron watches over a pretty busy venue.
Buoyed by this success, it's also no surprise that the El Publico crew decided to open a sister eatery in Leederville in late 2017. Things at La Vida Urbana are same-same but different. Like an actual sibling, you can easily see the resemblance between the two but La Vida Urbana has its own core identity. There's a similar style menu – snacky things, tacos, a couple of vegetable dishes and some larger plates. The drinks list is also familiar, and it's big on fun – tequila and mezcal mixed with fresh juice or cola, or in one of several types of margaritas. There’s beers in cans and a handful of easy-drinking reds and whites. The neon donkey even shows up on one of the white walls.
An obvious challenge that La Vida Urbana faces is the space. It's in a bloody big room, and it’s fronted by huge glass doors which, when opened, blur the line between restaurant and sidewalk. The central placement of the bar doesn't quite offset the aircraft hangar vibe. There are some chic touches – terracotta banquettes, a few scattered high tables, booth seating down one side of the venue – but the ceilings are high and the room is devoid of …. walls. Maybe a wholesale reno of the venue prior to La Vida moving in wasn't on the cards but some more thought about dividing the space wouldn't have gone astray.
“…here are the totopos, essentially luxe Doritos”
La Vida Urbana's menu is an inviting read. But the most inviting thing is the "Feed Me" option for $39 per head. It’s ridiculous value. There are four "courses", two of which comprise multiple dishes. Your journey begins with honey and chili popcorn, a fun, if not complicated, bar snack. It comes alongside black bean dip topped with queso fresco and served with house-made, palm-sized tortillas and crunchy fried tortilla pieces called totopos. The dip is pleasant, rescued from potential stodginess courtesy of added citrus, although the queso fresco, a Mexican fresh cheese, did little to up the flavour stakes. The tortillas are good but not remarkable, and you'll see these again during the meal, so don't get too excited. The real winners here are the totopos, essentially luxe Doritos – these are crunchy and a bit oily and structurally sound – perfect for dipping. If La Vida's chefs started doing these wholesale I'd be single-handedly putting their kids through college.
Course two sees each guest furnished with a pulled pork tortilla; a heaped pile of meat on the soft house tortillas, laden with apple and fennel salad and underscored with prune and pasilla salsa. The freshness of the salad appropriately balances the stringy, tender pork, and overall the tacos are good. They’re small, but don't complain – you'll need all your stomach space to tackle the extremely generous serving of nachos – laden with black bean puree, guacamole, cheese, and crema, and topped with jalapenos and coriander, all on the outstanding totopos from before. It's a big bowl of properly cheesy nachos – the crema, a house-made sour cream which comes off a little bit like chipotle sauce, brings smokiness and extra ooze. Delicious.
“The freshness of the salad appropriately balances the stringy, tender pork…”
Once you've finished the nachos (or more likely, thrown in the towel), the third course arrives. It's the parilla mixte, which basically means mixed grill, and it's essentially a DIY tacos situation. A big pan comes out, filled with fried chicken, lamb ribs, rare steak, and Spanish sausage, accompanied by rice, guacamole, more black bean dip and some lime wedges. You get a little packet of warm tortillas and are left to your own devices – make a few different taco combos or just enjoy the meats and sides on their own. The lamb ribs were a particular highlight here, fatty and falling off the bone, slick with savoury chipotle and pineapple adobo marinade. The fried chicken was also tasty, the coating light but zesty. The steak, although cooked beautifully, needed a bit of flavour oomph, and the rice was instantly forgettable. The generosity of this course, though, is not to be understated.
To finish, "fairy paletas"; ice-cream on a stick ribboned with strawberry jam and hundreds and thousands. It's not going to blow your mind but it's a sweet enough little treat. By this time you'll likely be only a few mouthfuls away from a genuine food coma, anyway.
“…you'll likely be only a few mouthfuls away from a genuine food coma…”
La Vida Urbana packs a decent punch, even if it doesn't quite live up to the lofty heights of its Beaufort Street compatriot. Some of the food could use a bit of a flavour kick, but overall the party atmosphere carries over pretty effortlessly. Our waiter was engaging and genuinely interested in helping us have a good time; suggesting drinks, talking us through the menu, and maybe most importantly, letting us know that it was okay that we still had half the nachos left when we began to loosen our belts – he sympathetically suggested making use of a doggy-bag. The feed me menu here is a solid option – it's mostly hits (with a few misses) and at only $39 a head very much encourages the ordering of a few extra margaritas. You'd be silly not to.