Bar Ama, Tex-Mex in the City of Angels

Last night was my 2nd trip to Bar Ama, Joseph Centeno's Tex-Mex cantina in the heart of DTLA. Chef Centeno is already famous for his flat bread sandwiches around the corner at Baco Mercat and with this new addition he might be running downtown soon. The first thing I noticed about my return to Bar Ama was the changes to the menu. Gone were the deep fried in peanut oil puffy tacos. This was disappointing since I had brought my friend Anthony along and had been bragging about the pork barbacoa and pineapple taco. Even with out that, there was the queso filled with chorizo and avocado this golden yellow treat will have you cleaning the bowl with every scrap of chips you have. Chef Centeno has had his own soda made; with fun colorful flavors such as Chocolate Root Beer and Hibiscus Sweet & Sour skip the beer and try one of these. When our waitress arrived she informed me that the puffy tacos were still around but were no longer on the menu. Unfortunately they didn't have the pineapple and pork that night. I ended up ordering the queso, 3 tacos, a roasted with sugar sweet potato, shrimp ceviche & multiple sodas so the three of us could all sample some. Something to know going into Bar Ama, the food comes out when it is ready, and it's fast. Five minutes after we ordered, the queso and the ceviche had both arrived at the table and my third guest Krystal was not even there yet. When she arrived the rest of the food showed up and we ate family style even going so far as too cut the tacos in half. The potato taco reminded me of great Ensenada fish tacos that I love so much and the puffy shell really elevates the whole experience. The shrimp taco and shrimp ceviche both tasted fine but didn't impress me enough to order it again. The queso was amazing as before and definitely got the most compliments from the table. The sweet potato also garnered some accolades for it's sweet yet savory flavor. I look forward to the next time I can dine at Bar Ama, let's hope next time they have the pineapple and pork back!

I do not own the rights to these amazing pictures, gosh they look yummy!