Restaurant Review: C’Viche

Something about C’Viche made my Veracruzan friend launch into an impromptu discourse on Mexican beer as we watched the sun set and people loiter on Lowest Greenville. The trendy spot’s sophisticated-casual take on Latin America is engaging and fun. In a lineup of tequila, rum, cachaça, and pisco-based cocktails, I rejoiced to find mezcal pronounced but accessible, as in the Diablo, where its smokiness is balanced with bright basil, lemon, and habanero bitters. Tacos take an updated approach, with good tortillas from a tortilleria down the street. The fish taco had tender fish, cabbage slaw, and Sriracha mayo; a satisfying, breakfast-y option married fried egg, roasted chiles, and pea shoots. The brisket taco would have been better had its chopped, suadero-roasted morsels been bigger and less crispy. The ceviche needed a better citrus situation, though the seafood is fresh and well-sourced. In one special, microgreens, sweet pea, basil, and a fine dice of red onion complemented creamy scallops. If only the grapefruit had been in its prime. A Peruvian ceviche came drenched in tired-tasting lime. But Mexican-style shrimp aguachile was flawless: six shrimp bathed in a lime-and-cilantro sauce, with pomegranate kernels scattered like the casual amblers we watched, street-side.