@ The Corner and Chef Carlos Perez Open ATC South Street Featuring High End Tacos + Cocktails

Andrew Dominick December 13, 2021

*Photos by Stephanie Webster and Andrew Dominick*

Chef Carlos Perez is a busy man. Not only is he running the kitchen at the popular @ The Corner, a 2021 CRAzies winner for Best Restaurant West Region, he’s somehow found time to open a separate concept right next door.

Unlike @ The Corner, ATC South Street is not New American…it’s all about tacos, Mexican-inspired shared plates, and mostly agave-based craft cocktails.

“We (Perez along with owners Jayne and Red Lamphear) started working on it last March when the hair salon next door went out of business,” Perez says. “The place was a blank canvas. And we knew the opportunity wouldn’t come up again, so we jumped on it. We floated the idea of a pizza concept but there’s already enough of that. In the past at @ The Corner, we did Japanese sushi fusion with Mexican tacos as a pop-up, and they did well. We thought to go straight up Mexican because there’s not a lot of that here.”

Fresh juices, homemade syrups, smoked cocktails, and more. Bartender Alfie Gonzalez isn’t afraid to show off his skills. Perez said he practically begged Gonzalez to bring his flair to ATC South Street.

Oaxaca old fashioned: Gracias a Dios Mezcal, agave syrup, chocolate bitters

We’ll get to the food soon. But what there’s also not a lot of according to Perez and bartender Alfie Gonzalez, is a spot that stays open a bit later than the rest for a younger crowd and for the restaurant industry. Whether it’s at 11:30 a.m. when they open, or 11-something at night, there’s a smooth Oaxaca old fashioned, a sweet (but sneaky) Painkiller, or some other tequila cocktail just for you. And if you want something that’s not listed, we’re betting they can make it. If wine is more your speed, they’ve got some of that, as well as plenty of local craft beer from the likes of Hoax, Two Roads, New Park, and Kent Falls.

While you enjoy the first sips of your cocktail of choice, do it with “small plates” and “sides” that are large enough to be shared. Chips & salsa at ATC South Street actually come with more than just salsa, there’s guac and queso that accompany it. But maybe the best sauce of them all comes with baked yucca fries. The habit forming black garlic mojo aioli is pungent, but kind of sweet, and all kinds of creamy. It’s the perfect dipper for the crispy outside, starchy inside of the yucca fries. If there’s any of that sauce leftover, don’t let the server take it away. You’ll use it on something else.

Huitlacoche corn chowder (top left), goat cheese croquettes (bottom left), chicken taco (top right), pork taco (bottom right)

Don’t want something on the cocktail list? Go the “Bartender’s Choice” route and let them craft something suited to your taste.

The rest of ATC South Street main menu is all about tacos. Each comes on Mi Tierra organic corn tortillas made with three ingredients (corn, water, and lime) grown and processed in the Connecticut River Valley.

What’s on (or in when you fold it!) each taco is mostly Mexican. The short rib in the birria taco is braised low and slow for six hours in a tomato base with malbec and beef stock. Perez told us that they continue saving the rich liquid for the next batch and make sure they skim the fat to make their consommé. If you know birria, you know that the consommé doesn’t only come into play when the tacos are getting toasty and melty on the flat top, but you get a little sidecar of it for taco submersion.

The pork taco (pineapple mango chutney, pickled cabbage, apple chayote salsa) is also braised for six hours in an orange juice, citrus, and garlic mojo, while the chicken tacos (pepita mole, avocado, pickled red onion, cotija cheese) are thighs braised in Tajin, a spice predominantly made up of ground chilis, salt, and lime.

Perez, though, who’s classically French trained and has a strong pastry background, mentioned that Mexican is a base for what ATC South Street intends on being, but that you will most certainly see him express his creativity with fusion tacos. On the initial menu, there’s a Japanese influenced tuna taco, served seared and rare, with carrot-seaweed slaw as one of its components.

“Since there’s nothing like it (ATC South Street) here, we can play around with it,” Perez says. “We always want to have some sort of seafood here, maybe Mexican-sushi fusion. We change our menu next door (at @ The Corner) every six weeks or so. I’m going to put a twist on it.”

That fourth dessert is tres leches cake! Perez can’t take credit for this one, as it’s made by his mom, who is quite the baker in her own right. The milk-soaked cake is garnished with candied corn kernels, Key lime syrup, dulce de leche, and agave Chantilly cream.

Twists, and Perez’s pastry background, do show up in a quad of desserts. You’d anticipate they’d have churros. These churros are Nutella-filled and generously drizzled with salted caramel and mango sauce. Flan? Sure. But it’s coconut flan with poblano crème anglaise. Platanos Foster—Perez’s interpretation of a classic—uses fried sweet plantains over bananas, plenty of cateja caramel made with goat milk, candied pepitas, and horchata infused Chantilly cream.

It’s all kinda classic, but kinda not. Perez will certainly showcase his skills and creativity at this Mexican offshoot of @ The Corner.

His hope besides being the new Taco Tuesday in town? “We want it to be a super cool, super hip take on Mexican.”

3 West Street; Litchfield
https://www.instagram.com/atcsouthst/