Brisket Enchiladas, 'Frilly' Interiors, and 'Quirky' Cantinas

This week, City Paper writer Eric Doksa visits Mixson's Básico to see what sort of plates chef Bryan Cates puts out. The critic discovers a dramatically different menu than the initial taco game the restaurant slung in their beginning. Doska digs the more refined dishes of hangar steak with Hen of the Woods mushrooms and chimicurri potatoes or the Carolina Gold rice with octopus and chorizo.

Luckily, the dishes turned out to be as good as described, and then some, causing me to have to continually remind myself to take a breath between bites.

Yes, there's still handmade tortillas, but it's not all about tacos anymore at Básico.

Back downtown, critic Hanna Raskin muses about Spring Street eatery Cannon Green. Her thoughts on the interiors? "The space is frilly by Charleston standards, with leafy shrubs set about the spacious, sophisticated room." Her thoughts on the food? "My dinners, while enjoyable, were disappointingly undercut by a few erratic kitchen errors ..." She isn't fond of the cocktail program and tells the reader to stick to wine. Despite the missteps, Raskin concludes, "Cannon Green is getting very close to nailing it."

Charleston Magazine inspects Sean Brock taco shop Minero for their March issue. Writer John Marshall raves about his experience at the "quirky cantina." He describes the fare as "Standout Mexican street food produced with heirloom ingredients and sold at taco-stand prices." Marshall runs through most of the menu, but our favorite romance novel-worthy description is that the "Queso fundido comes hot, thick, and studded with chorizo ..."  He might need a Mexican beer to cool off.