Rivera

Hubs took me to a wonderful birthday dinner at Rivera in downtown L.A, a restaurant that specializes in upscale Central American cuisine. I've been wanting to go there for a long time, and I wasn't disappointed.

Let's start with the drinks. I had the best drink of my life, the Barbacoa.

This drink is made with mezcal, something I'd never tasted before. Mezcal is made from agave, the same plant used to make tequila, but where tequila is spicy, mezcal is smokey. Add some chipotle, red pepper, ginger, simple syrup, and I don't know what else, and you have the best drink ever. Smokey, spicy, and just a little sweet. And a chunk of beef jerky to garnish. So, so good. Whenever I go to L.A. Live or Staples Center, I'll be sure to run across the street to Rivera and have one of these.

Hubs had a good drink, too, though I don't remember the name or what was in it, besides tequila. But it had this amazing chunk of ice that slowly melted. So pretty.

Rivera has a lot of small bites, so we ordered two. The Equadorian Crudo was very fresh. A perfect, light summer starter.

The Arepas, dense corn cakes, with Soft Shell Crab were also delicious. Small but hearty and served with a good sauce. Plus they wrote on the plate in celery salt or something which was cool.

For entrees, I ordered the Puerco Pibil.

It was good. The sauce was fine, not too sweet, not too smokey. The pork was fine as well, could've been a little juicier. Nothing amazing. Hubs ordered the Duck Enfrijolada, which was duck and goat cheese tucked between two blue corn tortillas. This was pretty darn good.

We ordered a side of black beans. Our waiter warned us they were spicy. I feel restaurants always over-warn about the level of spiciness. But I have to hand it to Rivera; these black beans were spicy. To the point that I wouldn't have wanted them any spicier or I think my taste buds would've been numb. The beans were also quite sweet, so having sweet combined with hot was unique.

My favorite food of the night were the tortillas. Yes, plain and simple tortillas served with a guacamole that had a little kick to it. But these were the best tortillas I've ever had. Soft, yet sturdy, with pure delicious corn flavor. And gorgeous presentation with a beet shaving.

For dessert we shared the bread pudding. Loved the roasted, salted peanuts, but it wasn't overly special. Looked gorgeous, though.

I don't know if I need to eat another meal at Rivera. The food was good, but my favorite dishes, the tortillas and those black beans, could be ordered at the bar over a Barbacoa.