Dine Out: Frontera Grill puts its spin on Mexican staples

The template for Americanized Mexican restaurants seems largely the same across the U.S.

From the South to the Midwest to Southern New England, I’ve found the decor, dishes and flavors largely mirroring one another.

Like the rise of fast food, that uniformity breeds a certain amount of comfort and familiarity.

It also makes the restaurants that stray from that norm in a positive way really stand out.

I think immediately of a taqueria in the back of a building in Versailles, Kentucky, that also housed an Ace Hardware. The menu was bone simple and authentic. They made the best tacos I’ve ever eaten. I loved the bowls of cilantro, onion and salsa they brought so you could append your taco as you preferred.

I also think about the Pink Taco, a Las Vegas restaurant which puts a twist on Mexican food under the shadow of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino’s iconic guitar.

Frontera Grill in Fairhaven falls into the latter category, mixing some surprising ingredients and mixing new flavors into traditional dishes.

It was an icy Friday night when Barbara and I arrived at the restaurant and were quickly led to a booth near the front of the room.

Frontera’s departure from the Mexican-American restaurant norm was evident from the start. There were plenty of bright colors throughout the decor, and the exposed brick and wood accents gives the spot a truly upscale feel.

We were seated below some nice pieces of blown glass artwork, but the chill from outside hung in the room, keeping the environment — literally — from feeling warm and welcoming.

We were quickly brought a large basket of crispy tortilla chips and a couple bowls of rich red salsa. Our server, Francisco, arrived soon after to take our drink orders and dropped off a pair of large menus.

He sold Barbara on the special Hotel California Margarita ($9), so named because it uses Hotel California brand anejo tequila.

I was happy to see a nice selection of Mexican beers on tap and ordered a Negra Modelo ($5).

The margarita was excellent — tart and lime forward with a nice tequila bite, and the Hotel California was not harsh.

As we perused the menu, a guacamole cart arrived offering tableside service. I’ve found the tableside guacamole is often surprisingly expensive… in this case $6 for a small portion (which turned out to be more than enough for two people). But the taste difference between the fresh tableside guac and what is served as a side with some dishes has universally been night and day.

We decided to splurge on the tableside and the end result was pretty perfect. Plenty of lime and cilantro gave it a nice fresh flavor and the onion provided the perfect bite. The avocado was perfectly ripe. I liked that we were offered chips with a bite before the server left in case we wanted more salt or heat or other adjustment.

Francisco returned and we asked for a couple waters (we asked for a couple waters a few times before they arrived, in truth), and I decided to try the raja taquitos ($7.95), which the online menu confusingly lists as flour corn (is that a thing?) tortillas stuffed with roasted poblano peppers, onions and crispy potatoes sauteed in a Parmesan cream sauce topped with pico de gallo and served with cabbage.

What arrived bore virtually no resemblance to the description on the menu.

As far as I could tell the corn tortilla was filled with mashed potatoes and then deep fried with a tangy cream sauce drizzled over the top.

If there were poblano peppers in there, they were blended into the potatoes, which were certainly not crispy. The onion was available on top with the pico de gallo.

The flavor itself wasn’t bad. It bore the distinctive deep-fried flavor a chimichanga has. But the tacos were pretty oily out of the fryer. And I couldn’t really come to grips with how far the dish was from the “roasted poblano peppers, onions and crispy potatoes sauteed in a Parmesan cream sauce.”

With that under our belts, we moved on to the larger menu.

The seafood options reflect Frontera’s fusion twist philosophy. Take for example the pescado veracruzano ($14.95), which featured grilled blackened tilapia fish topped with roasted poblano peppers, tomatoes, green olives and capers salsa, served with sauteed vegetables and rice. There is also the camarones con tocino ($16.95), large bacon-wrapped shrimp served over grilled onions, mushroom and green peppers with a cilantro lime dip.

Barbara considered tempura fish tacos ($12.45), two large flour tortillas filled with tilapia fried in a Dos Equis beer batter and drizzled with a dill cream sauce. As we were still figuring out Frontera’s non-traditional approach, I think the dill threw her and she played it safe with an order of shrimp fajitas.

I considered the expresso burrito ($11.45), described as pork carnitas, rice, beans and cheeses wrapped in a flour tortilla, smothered enchilada style and topped with guacamole, tomatoes, onions and Cotija cheese.

But when the menu says “world best tacos,” how can you not order them? They’re the world best! We both substituted black beans for the refried beans with our sides of rice.

Barbara’s fajitas arrived on the familiar cast iron skillet, but they weren’t sizzling, like you often see in Mexican restaurants. That was a red flag for me, but she said they were still steaming hot.

What wasn’t steaming hot was the sides on both our plates. The rice and beans were lukewarm at best, and with a chill in the room, were quickly just plain cold. I only had a few bites, enough to notice the rice was more on the side of plain rice than deeply seasoned Mexican rice.

I think that reflected Frontera’s overall approach. Both the fajita and steak in my tacos were well-cooked and tasty, but neither had a lot of Mexican spices. That approach really comes down to a matter of taste. We spiced things up with some hot pepper salsa Francisco brought and a bowl of fresh sliced jalapenos we ordered.

My World Best Tacos ($13.45) were larger than tacos you’ll find at many restaurants, and easily filled me up even without having much of the rice and beans.

The tacos are listed as corn tortillas, melted Monterey Jack cheese, cabbage, caramelized onions and fine skirt steak topped with mango salsa and Cotija cheese.

The steak was tender and flavorful. There were no caramelized onions apparent, but I did notice some pickled red onions sprinkled in. The mango salsa was sweet and added a nice flavor. I was craving a little extra spice and heat, but the tacos were very good steak tacos.

We passed up the dessert options, a list far longer than traditional Mexican restaurants. Without the chips and tableside guac, and I might have tried the New York cheesecake chimichanga or the tres leches cake.

Our bill came to just over $50 without the drinks.

Frontera Grill

Mexican

Address: 214 Huttleston Avenue, Fairhaven

Hours:11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.on Sundays

Handicapped access: Yes

Credit cards: Yes

Reservations: No

Phone:774-628-9723

Online: fronteragrillfairhaven.com

Food: 3.5

Service: 3.5

Atmosphere: 4

Cleanliness: 5

Price/Value: 3

Dine Out's reviewer visits restaurants unannounced and at his or her discretion. The newspaper pays for the meals reviewed. The reviews merely reflect one diner's experience. Ratings range from 1 to 5 stars.