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Good Taste: Tails of the BlueCat

Tails of the BlueCat With so many new restaurants debuting in Fairmount last year, it took a while for me to visit BlueCat, the pan-Latin bistro from chef Guy Shapiro and his wife, Luli Canuso. Based on my excellent recent meal, I should have come sooner.

The oxtail stew is a soulful plate of pure Latin comfort. The oxtails are simmered in soffritto and malbec until the tender meat slips off the bone into silky malanga-potato mash. (ED HILLE / Staff Photographer)
The oxtail stew is a soulful plate of pure Latin comfort. The oxtails are simmered in soffritto and malbec until the tender meat slips off the bone into silky malanga-potato mash. (ED HILLE / Staff Photographer)Read more
    by Craig LaBan, Inquirer
    Published 

With so many new restaurants debuting in Fairmount last year, it took a while for me to visit BlueCat, the pan-Latin bistro from chef Guy Shapiro and his wife, Luli Canuso. Based on my excellent recent meal, I should have come sooner. Despite Shapiro's wide-ranging experiences, from the Toscana chain to Cafe Nola, he has a genuine feeling for traditional Latin fare. You taste that in the mole-enriched salsa roja in which blue corn tortillas are simmered for his chilaquiles, or the orange mojo tang of the roast pork that ends up in his clever chopped salad deconstruction of a Cubano sandwich. But my favorite is a soulful plate of pure Latin comfort, oxtails simmered in soffritto and malbec until the tender meat slips off the bone into silky malanga-potato mash. With a winter warmer like this, I'm so glad I finally got to this neighborhood newcomer.

- Craig LaBan
Oxtail stew, $18, BlueCat, 1921-1929 Fairmount Ave. 267-519-2911; bluecatrestaurant.com