Three years ago at Geronimo in New Haven I had the best jalapeño blood orange margarita I’ve ever had. No other cocktail has come close to the balance of that fresh, fruity, not-to-sweet and spicy elixir, with its kick of tequila.
Until the other night when I tasted the jalapeño blood orange margarita at Geronimo in Fairfield. The brother to 7-year-old New Haven tequila bar and southwestern restaurant opened about a year ago on the Post Road in downtown Fairfield.
The bar glows with tequila bottles filled with clear and amber distillations. Geronimo features 400 tequilas. The walls are adobe white, adorned with bleached out deer skulls. There’s an intriguingly creepy corner table, a glass-topped terrarium with live scorpions.
The menu’s focus is on food that you would find in Albuquerque, Taos and Santa Fe. The Three Sisters tamale, named after the Iroquois myth, is filled with roasted corn, beans, butternut squash with melted Mexican cheese and green chili salsa.
Elk chili is simmered with red beans, chorizo, tomatoes, Mexican oregano, and topped with cuitlacoche, the Mexican truffle (corn fungus). Buffalo chili is braised in Sierra Nevada ale and black beans. We tried it with the Navaho frybread, a dish of western and southwestern cafes, deep-fried dough, slightly sweet, served with taco toppings. We went all-in, ordering The Junkyard, buffalo chili (which had a deeper flavor than beef), cheese, chiles, guacamole, salsa and sour cream. It was like a combination of pizza and quesadilla, which we dug into with fork and knife.
Green chile stew’s twist is the addition of hominy, which adds texture to this pozole of green hatch chiles and braised pork. Thank goodness Geronimo offers a chili trio, so we could sample the elk, bison and green chile.
Geronimo presents a more healthful version of chile rellenos by serving them unbattered. A plump, silky peeled poblano was stuffed with three Mexican cheeses: Chihuahua, a cheddar-like melting cheese; Oaxaca, mozzarella-like; and cotijo, strongly flavored, salty cheese. The spicy poblano oozed cheese, sharing a plate with black beans cooked with Sierra Nevada ale.
We couldn’t resist the mac ‘n’ cheese with hatch green chili sauce. Made with Chihuahua and Gruyere, topped with cornbread crumbs and drizzled with cuitlacoche oil, it’s not too over-the-top.
Another thing I really like about Geronimo: There’s no television in the bar. Our waiter told us that the restaurant is considering making a lounge for game-watchers upstairs.
As good as the food at Geronimo is, it’s likely to get better. Lauded chef Arturo Franco Camache is taking over the kitchen.
>>Geronimo Tequila Bar and Southwestern Grill, 2070 Post Road, Fairfield, is open Sunday through Tuesday, 11:30 a.m to 9 p.m.; Wednesday and Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11:30 to 11 p.m. Information: 203-955-1643 or geronimobarandgrill.com.
