Chef Patrick Bazin’s opening of Alegria on Church Street in Vienna is a story about family love and dietary restrictions. Let’s talk about the ”love” part, first. Bazin and his wife, Julie, have clearly built family love around their business. His staff is a big extended family, many of them working for him for 15 years. If you haven’t heard, they also own and run Alegria’s sister restaurant, Bazin’s on Church, as well. According to Julie, Mexican is their food of choice at home.
Their cooking method comes from the Oaxaca region of Mexico and is considered a more contemporary Mexican style. Everything is fresh starting with the homemade tortillas to the salsas.
“It’s simple and complex food with flavor,” Bazin says.
Back in the early 90’s, before Bazin’s and Alegria, Bazin worked with celebrity chef, Rick Bayless at Frontera in Chicago and then went onto lead the hot and spicy, Red Sage restaurant in DC.
“The journey is the best part of the job,” Bazin claims.
Frontera is where he cut his teeth learning the nuances and intricacies’ of Mexican cuisine. Alegria seats about 65 comfortably and is reminiscent of an upscale cantina with exposed brick and an imposing wrought iron chandelier. The centerpiece is the bar with an antiqued mirror and selection of 100 types of tequila. It draws a younger, more boisterous crowd on the weekends with people laughing and sharing plates and tequila. There’s outdoor seating overlooking historic Church Street and the servers are extremely attentive about the food coming out … “pronto!” There’s also heating on the patio for those cooler nights.
Dietary restrictions became part of the narrative when Patrick learned he was gluten intolerant. He was diagnosed with Celiac disease, an immune reaction to eating gluten found in wheat, barley and rye. This would definitely change the way one eats, and in his case, how one works. This incentivized him to incorporate some gluten free guidelines to his menu. Alegria’s food is 98% gluten free and there’s not a speck of flour in the restaurant. They don’t use butter, or creams in their dishes, and house corn tortillas are authentically made with masa corn flour (gluten-free).
To whet your appetite, empanadas are perfect for a quick appetizer to accompany cocktails, wine or beer. If margaritas are your spirit of choice, they make them fresh with squeezed lime and fresh fruit purees. Crispy Baja fish tacos, fish ala plancha, and queso fundido with melted Chihuahau cheese; rajas, brown onions and fresh warm corn tortillas are essential to the Alegria experience. The tender, sizzling Oaxacan-style carne asada with refried black beans and crispy plantains is a feast that should be paired with a medium-bodied Pinto Noir for the definitive meal. They offer a full line of beautifully selected wines and Bazin was recently awarded the 2013 Wine Spectator Award for Restaurants.
On the vegetarian side, there are seven to ten menu choices including the sumptuous, roasted Portobello mushroom taco with Chihauhau cheese, pumpkin seeds and Huitlacoche with mushrooms, brown onions, pasilla chiles and Chihuahua cheese. Finish the dinner off with the classic Mexican dessert (postres) of either corn flan with blueberry-lemon sauce, or tres leches – cake soaked in three types of milks.
