Naco Gallery Cafe
Naco Café and Gallery is a place where babies meet. Well, it's a place where people from the neighbourhood meet, but the Naco neighbourhood is full of babies. At some point when I wasn't looking, Brockton Village transformed from a stretch of Dundas I avoided at night into a community of artists and young families (as places one avoids at night tend to do).
Alyssa and I went to check out this new, happening, Mexican-food-serving-café and gallery last week. As we got close, Alyssa realized Naco was less than a block from where her friend, Marina, lives with her family (which includes one of the cutest babies I've ever "met"). She called Marina up to join us and we got to experience Naco with a regular - well, two regulars if you count the baby (Paloma!).
My first impression of Naco was that it was a comfortable, good-looking place. The café is purple from top to bottom with bar seating and one large (and purple) table. Beyond the café area, Naco stretches back through a narrow doorway into two additional rooms of paintings, photos and books, including a space to view slides. At the very back, the establishment spills out into a fantastic backyard patio, the look of which makes you ache for summer and beer. Incidentally, they're currently vying for a patio liquor license (for which they're accepting donations - go team!).
Experiencing Naco with (or as) a regular felt important because the place is full of them. Everyone seems to know each other. In the few minutes it took for food and coffee to arrive at our table, tons of Marina's friends came inside to grab a coffee or say hi (about half of these friends were Paloma's... they were babies... one little boy even shook Paloma's hand, but I'm not sure if this signifies that they're already good friends, or just meeting each other for the first time). One of those friends was Julian Calleros, owner of Naco. He came over to hold Paloma and tell us about Naco, in good spirits and obviously happy to finally have it open. He tells us about the desserts (courtesy of Wanda's Pie in the Sky and HungerWorks), the homemade hot sauce (crafted by Julian himself) and the Mexican cuisine (made on the spot, often with fresh, seasonal ingredients).
Speaking of hot sauce and Mexican cuisine, I ordered a chicken tostada ($5), which I loaded with hot sauce. Alyssa eyed the whole thing skeptically. "I think I prefer soft," she claimed, and I encouraged her to go with her gut. She came back with two ham and cheese quesadillas and black bean soup ($7.50 in total). The soup was a hit all 'round the table. Marina had tried it before and vouched for it immediately. Alyssa urged me to try a bit, specifying (and ensuring) that I got a spoonful that included cheese.
My tostada was deceivingly filling. It looked tiny but was stacked up high, an elaborate thing more layered than I expected with shredded chicken and hunks of avocado. I enjoyed every bite of that textured, tasty combo. Once Alyssa was happy and full, she revealed that the real reason she didn't want any of my tostada was that she doesn't like avocado, at least not any more. She recently had a bad experience at a Mexican restaurant - what a shame. Lucky little Paloma, who I'm sure has had very few bad experiences (although she was teething that day and I imagine that's pretty rough) was at that moment munching on some avocado provided by Julian and his staff. Naco is a place where babies are happy. But Alyssa and I, we were pretty happy ourselves. We split a piece of orange cheesecake by Hunger Works ($4) and it was perfect: rich and creamy with hunks of citrus and a shortbread crust. Downed with a couple of Americanos ($2 each), we're satisfied.
Marina and Paloma pack up to go (that avocado was nice but it's time for some real dinner) and Alyssa and I follow. On our way out, Julian gives us some postcards advertising the next art opening and reception scheduled at Naco. It strikes me how well the place would suit an evening event, something to do with the purple walls. Our final words with Julian reveal (in celebratory tones) that Naco has recently become licensed (so far only on the inside... tricky process). Julian and Marina are happy to tell us, and we're happy to hear it. Naco is a place where everyone is happy.
Photos by Alyssa Bistonath
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Nice photos! makes me want to go again!
I want to go at night, must be nice as a bar too
I am thrilled to check this out. ¡Me encanta la cultura mexicana! Heads up to those trying to find this place: I didn't know where Brockton Village was and clicked on the map for guidance. I believe Google is defaulting to the wrong address on Dundas St. because it is pointing to this cafe as being in Mississauga. Another map tells me it's at actually in the Dundas/Landsdowne area. I think this is a Google issue and not BlogTo. Try yelp.ca for an accurate map.
We fixed the map issue!
Great review, but I have to say that I did find the opening part of this post just a little bit - hell, no, actually not a little bit, a whole lot of patronizing.
Brockton has been a family neighbourhood for generations. Portuguese families for sure, so not as trendy as the hipsters who are buying up the cheap-ish houses, but families nonetheless. To make it sound like a slum is a just a little bit distasteful.
I was there just last Thursday. Excellent place for drinks and nibblys with friends.
I didn't see that Julian was selling his hot sauce... well know I gotta go back. ;)
Excellent little place to chill out. Julian makes you feel right at home. More people should check out our neighbourhood, a lot has changed. Check out all the new places:
Multiple Organics - www.multipleorganics.ca
Beadle - www.beadlestore.ca
She Takes the Cake
HenHouse Cafe
Zoots Cafe
To name a few.
We should all be happy for Julien. Naco is putting the DuWest hood on the map.
Some good friends from the other side of the bridge (i.e. Roncesvalles) chanced upon NACO recently and declared (what I have long known already) that our neighbourhood is cool. NACO is cooling up the neighbourhood!!
Also - coming from a hot chocolate snob - Julian makes the BEST hot chocolate in the city. REAL chocolate and a bit of a spicy kick. Yum. Julian is a sweetie and he runs his cafe with a lot of heart.
Andreas : Of course its patronizing, but you have to understand that any neighbourhood without a white majority is considered "a place you don't go at night" by white people. It's a bit of a narrow outlook.
By white, I really mean anglo/germanic/french/nordic/etc. The pasty skinned folk.
Andreas, don't be surprised. A lot of white folk look at any neighbourhood lacking a white majority as a place you don't want to be at night.
By white, I really mean anglo/french/german/nordic/etc.
http://www.nacogallery.com/
just to update the link..