A Sneak Peek at El Toro Blanco, Opening Mid-October

El Toro Blanco
257 Sixth Ave, West Village
212-645-0193
Projected Opening Date: October 15

Next Month, John McDonald, Josh Capon, and Josh Pickard will kick open the doors to their hotly anticipated West Village Mexican restaurant, El Toro Blanco. Expect a dining room inspired by mid-century Mexico City, a bar stocked with lots of tequila, and a station in the dining room where chefs will make guacamole to order. Eater recently stopped by the kitchen of Lure Fishbar where Capon, McDonald, and chef Scott Linquist were doing some R & D for the menu. Here's what to expect from El Toro Blanco:

McDonald notes, "I crave Mexican food, and there are not a lot of places where I feel like I can go and get the range of everything I like." The restaurateur wanted Linquist to work on the menu because he has nearly two decades of experience cooking modern Mexican cuisine, and a great knowledge of different regional specialties (Scott was just named the executive chef at Border Grill in LA). Linquist and McDonald also go way back — the two worked together at Dos Caminos years ago. Linquist is collaborating on the menu with Capon, who will be running the show day-to-day. But many of the recipes for the sauces and spice combinations are coming directly from Linquist.

[McDonald and Linquist]
A lot of the menu will be devoted to light, protein-based dishes, like ceviches, roasted lobsters, grilled cuts of meat, and tacos. "You've got to do that so that people can eat here on a regular basis," McDonald explains. And don't expect to find piles of beans, rice, and sour cream on the side — that's not what they're going for here.

But the menu will include a few splurge dishes, like this one:

That's a whole goat that was rubbed with adobo and slow roasted in banana leaves. Capon and Linquist are still figuring out how they want to serve this, but they will most likely offer a taco made with the barbecued meat, as well as a goat entree special on the weekends. Capon and Linquist hope to offer suckling pig, cooked and served in the same style. The menu will be in the same general price range as the one at B & B — appetizers in the teens, entrees in the high teens and mid 20s.

McDonald tells Eater that he's now shooting for a mid-October opening.
· All coverage of El Toro Blanco [~ENY~]