Cosme

Guacamole That Earns Its Price

3.5 of 5

Guacamole for twenty-four dollars should start a riot. At Cosme it mostly ends one. Enrique Olvera's room on East 21st Street serves contemporary food rooted in Mexican flavors and traditions, and the kitchen works hard to keep it seasonal and local. Most New Yorkers have been burned by a famous Mexican restaurant with a tortilla chip and a dream. This is the other kind.

Start with the guacamole and the corn tostadas, because the tostadas are the point. The hiramasa tiradito is thin, cold and clean. The scallops come grilled, al pastor style, which means the old taco-stand trick of pineapple and char applied to something that normally gets a gentle poach. The grilled branzino is the big plate for the table. Desserts lean sweet and plain: fresas con crema, or a black sea hazelnut flan. There is a serious mezcal and margarita list, and a coconut horchata if you are driving or sensible.

It is expensive, so make it a proper dinner out and not a snack. Hours are five to half past nine most nights and until ten at the end of the week. Book ahead, go early, and sit where you can see the plates go by. A kitchen that makes you reconsider avocado is doing something right, and I will pay twenty-four dollars once to find out.

Order this: Guacamole with corn tostadas, Hiramasa tiradito, Grilled Atlantic scallops al pastor, Grilled branzino, Fresas con crema
The damage: $$$
Go: A weeknight at five, before the room fills and while the kitchen is fresh
Find it: 35 E 21st St, New York, NY 10010