Local Eats

MAD MEXICA

By Mabel Suen

In early February, St. Louis’ historic Soulard neighborhood greeted Mad Mexica – inside Mad Art Gallery, uniquely housed in a 1930s police station – and the new lunchtime destination offers “Mexican cuisine from across the country.”

Mad Mexica comes from chef and gallery owner Ron Buechele, who previously operated the barbecue eatery Capitalist Pig at the venue. With Mad Mexica (named after the indigenous Mexica, or Aztecs, from which Buechele’s grandmother descends), he explores his roots the best way he knows how: through his passion for food.

“The whole paternal side of my family is from Michoacán, Mexico, and it was this whole half of my genetic makeup I had no real knowledge of,” says Buechele, who met his father for the first time in 2015, just two years before his father died of cancer.

“I inherited a molcajete [a traditional Mexican mortar and pestle] that’s probably 300 years old that a lot of hands have held onto, but there weren’t generational or family recipes they could really hand down to me. I started researching for my own knowledge of Mexican food and just sort of latched onto street food.”

Dominating the Mad Mexica menu is the stew/filling birria, which Buechele says the eatery prepares in a Michoacán style instead of the Jalisco style that most folks know; his version incorporates touches like cascabel (“little bell”) peppers and Mexican chocolate in the consommé. The birria features various meats from week to week, among them beef and goat – available in a taco, in a quesabirria, in a quesadilla or atop fries and ramen (made with a consommé and miso/dashi base).

“I want people to experience Mexican food a bit differently,” Buechele says. “There are a lot more layers to this onion than what you might typically think of.”

Tacos and quesadillas are also available with brisket, carnitas (Mexican pulled pork), adobo chicken, chorizo with potato, and jackfruit. A “street” burger features a house-ground brisket, chuck and short rib patty, with such add-ons as Chihuahua cheese and jalapeños, and sides include smoked cauliflower, borracho (“drunken”) beans and fire-roasted salsas.

Mad Mexica occupies the front of Mad Art Gallery, with seating at hallway tables and inside former jail cells. Patio seating will also be available in warmer weather. ln Mad Mexica, 2727 S. 12th St., St. Louis, 314-771-8230, madmexstl.com