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Who didn’t have high hopes back in August when it was announced that Jonathan Zaragoza had been hired to take over the kitchen at Logan Square’s Masa Azul? Up until then it had been a great tequila bar and a middling southwestern restaurant. That’s all changed now. Zaragoza, scion of the clan that runs the great Birrieria Zaragoza and a veteran of Sepia, has brought the menu up to par with a lineup of tacos: pork belly, shrimp, mushrooms, a superjuicy Yucatan-style cochinita pibil, and of course the mole-rubbed roasted birria his family is known for. These take top billing on a menu that also includes a handful of quirky small plates and a trio of larger entrees, led by what’s emerged as something of signature: a gooey soft-boiled ovum jacketed in panko-crusted chorizo—the Mexican Scotch egg. You’ll also find a Caesar salad with cotija cheese fritters, a squash soup with duck confit, a grilled flatiron steak with mashed potatoes dotted with cubes of lime jelly, and a Chihuahua-cheese-stuffed chile relleno with cilantro-lime rice.
