Salsa 17 keeps the Mexican flavor in downtown Arlington Heights
When the signs for Fuego Mexican Grill in downtown Arlington Heights came down in the spring, fans of the five-year-old upscale spot were aghast. Not to worry. Salsa 17, the "new" restaurant at the site, is very similar. You can still drink a vast array of tequilas and margaritas, eat guacamole mixed tableside and choose from a menu of modern and traditional Mexican dishes.
A reshuffling of the investors behind the Arlington Heights eatery and its sister site in Chicago left the Fuego name with the owners of the city branch, so the suburban proprietors needed to come up with a new moniker. A new sign and a few changes to the decor, and they were back in business. Mexico-born chef Jose Luna, an American Culinary Federation award winner and Certified Executive Chef who took over the kitchen before the name change, has left the menu intact, although he puts his own spin on the weekly specials and changing ceviches, moles and flans.
Awash in big bold murals and colorful beer logos, Salsa 17's bright and bustling dining room and narrow bar area are happening places to be on the weekends, loud and jam-packed with a mixed crowd of couples and groups spanning the gamut of ages. Nearly every table orders the guacamole, which is mixed fresh to order while you watch.
If you don't get the guac, you can dip your fresh and crunchy tortilla chips, served gratis, into a complimentary bowl of chunky salsa, pleasantly smoky with chipotle peppers. Our chips and salsa were cheerfully replenished after we vacuumed them up, too.
Antijotos also include a weekly changing ceviche, although the regular house version is very good too: a zippy cocktail of rock shrimp and plum tomato marinated in orange and lime juices mixed with green olives and layered with slices of creamy avocado, served in a brimming martini glass and accompanied by the inevitable saltines.
On the cooked side, try the taquitos de barbecoa - my favorite dish of the evening. You get a trio of crispy fried corn tortilla rolls stuffed with shreds of savory braised lamb, with a bit of pickled red onion to add piquancy and crisp fried spinach to garnish. Other starter options include fried calamari served with salsa, sopes with your choice of several fillings and quesadillas, also with a choice of stuffings.
Along with your appetizers, you can choose from the restaurant's dizzyingly large collection of tequilas, have any of them mixed into cocktails or some two dozen margarita styles. Asked to recommend a classic style, our server suggested the El Paraiso, mixed with Herradura Blanco and Grand Marnier, and that heady blend went down smoothly. A number of Mexican beers feature as well.
On the entree list, a whole page of mole dishes offers several styles of the famous Mexican sauces: Mole poblano, the black Pueblan mixture of toasted seeds, spices and chocolate; mole amarillo, an Oaxacan tradition based on guajillo chilies; mole blanco, made with white chocolate, poblano and serrano chilies and dried fruit; and mole de pistache, a green sauce of jalapenos, poblanos and avocado leaves; plus a weekly featured mole.
Mole dishes also feature among the chef's specialties elsewhere on the menu. Our pollo en mole poblano, a roasted half Amish chicken, came under a thick blanket of the dark sauce, sprinkled with sesame seeds. Luna's version of the sauce seemed lighter, sweeter and less complex than other renditions I have tried, but still very flavorful. The chicken itself was less successful - rubbery and bland, with flabby skin pallid under its coating of mole. So I suggest trying the mole on some other food.
My companion was much happier with his mixed enchiladas. The trio of plump, corn-tortilla-wrapped rolls includes one cheese-filled enchilada in mole poblano, a chicken-filled version under a mild, red ranchero sauce and one with picadillo (seasoned ground beef and potatoes) covered with green salsa. Seafood enchiladas are also available.
Taco plates, big burritos and fajitas also number among the traditional Mexican dishes available, although as these are priced higher than similar offerings at local taquerias, you might find more value (and novelty) in the wide range of chef's specialties. Options to consider include beef tenderloin in morita chili cream sauce, pan-seared Baja California sea bass in mole de pistache and braised lamb shank in a sauce of several kinds of chilies. The long menu, with its mix of modern and traditional dishes, surely offers something for everyone, although spicy-food lovers may want to ask them to ramp up the heat. Entrees come with a nice bowl of chicken soup.
Desserts include a dense, rich flourless chocolate cake, served in a lake of raspberry sauce, and a traditional pastel de tres leches, vanilla sponge cake soaked in its three milks, not so runny as some. A chocolate version is available, too, as are other choices such as flan and fried ice cream.
Salsa 17Info: 17 W. Campbell, Arlington Heights, (847) 590-1122, salsa17.comCuisine: Contemporary MexicanSetting: Bustling, upscale yet casual restaurant in downtown Arlington HeightsEntrees: $11.99 to $20.99Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, noon to 9 p.m. SundaysFalse20001343A name change and some decor shifts transformed the old Fuego restaurant in Arlington Heights into Salsa 17.Bill Zars | Staff PhotographerFalse