Dining Review: Nómada

Many new restaurants share the near-ubiquitous desire to “elevate,” be it standards from staid models such as delis, pubs, or steakhouses, or time-honored dishes comprising a region’s culinary heritage. Adding interesting ingredients and applying modern technical tweaks can help an eatery stand out, something that can be difficult to do, especially in a saturated market like San Diego County. But when it came time for veteran chef Alex Carballo to develop a menu for the Grand Restaurant Group’s new Carlsbad venture, Nómada, a Mexican concept installed in the former home of Alejandra’s, rather than elevate, he opted to strip everything back, fancying flavor over flair when celebrating the cuisine of his homeland. The result is something straightforward, honest, and immensely flavorful.

The first two items on Nómada’s menu set the tone for what follows. Bolillo rolls — the make-or-break factor for any torta — are baked fresh in the restaurant’s wood-fire oven (a vessel that tops out between 900 and 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit) and served with jalapeño honey butter. Meanwhile, the house guacamole (a recommended add-on to complimentary chips and roasted-tomato salsa) consists of just four ingredients: avocado, salt, lime, and cilantro. It’s real, and like many of Carballo’s dishes, evocative of food prepared in a domestic environment.

An entrée of cochinita pibil sees pork shoulder marinated for 24 hours, then wrapped in banana leaves and slow-cooked for 10 hours. The soft and scrumptious meat is served with tortillas, charred chayote squash, pickled vegetables, and salsa macha. Rich and toasty, a little of the latter goes a long way. Similarly homey is wood-fired chicken served in a smoky, chocolatey Oaxacan-style mole. That sauce also accompanies a trio of duck confit tacos (a reimagined version of a dish Carballo made popular during his half-decade helming Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens) with indigo-hued tortillas made with corn from Chiapas.

Tacos are a particularly strong section of the menu, where one can pick and choose from nicely charred carne asada or octopus, fried fish, braised pork, or chili-spiced birria with beefy consommé for dipping. The latter protein is also stuffed into shareable chimichanga-bite appetizers and served in a bowl with beans and salsa macha. But the best of the bunch — and maybe the entire menu — are pollo doradito tacos stuffed with shredded chicken, lettuce, crema, and smoked cotija cheese. They’re balanced and bursting with a flavor that tastes like home. 

Of course, Nómada isn’t a residence but a restaurant, one looking to provide a getaway to its patrons, particularly those who call inland Carlsbad home. Judging by the voluminous, friendly buzz and the lack of empty seats, they have done a good job luring early adopters in with a solid menu — not only food, but also a creative cocktail list (a floral pisco sour incorporating macadamia-nut orgeat and Amargo Chuncho Peruvian bitters is incredibly delicious) — in addition to weekend brunches and entertainment Friday and Saturday evenings.

Other Mexican mainstays on Nómada’s menu include elote, queso fundido, pozole, Caesar salad, chile relleno, and enchiladas (cheese, beef, or chicken served in mole, red, or green sauce). There is also an abundance of uncooked sea fare, ranging from oysters with charred-chili mignonette to ceviches and coctels (shrimp, fish, mixed seafood) to chocolate clams and a shrimp aguachile. Those last two are dressed in a passionfruit vinaigrette which brings in a sense of tropicality, the tartness of which is tempered by sweet coconut water. 

Nómada has only been open for three months, but the expansive indoor-outdoor locale appears to have won over a great many, not with fancy techniques and smoke and mirrors, but the widely beloved flavors of Mexico. That was Carballo’s humble mission and it’s been fully realized. Next up for the chef: applying his vision to two of the Grand Restaurant Group’s other properties, Bellamy’s in downtown Escondido and Nick & G’s in Rancho Santa Fe’s village area. Stay tuned. 858.500.5150, nomadadining.com