Hungarian connection

New Pink Taco chef explores nuances of Mexican cooking

Chiles and onions sautéing in a pot.

That’s the aroma that hooked a young Nathan Slattery on Mexican cooking. He’s the new executive chef at Scottsdale Waterfront’s Pink Taco, where the young and beautiful rub elbows.

Slattery’s juvenile olfactory sense picked up the connection between the indigenous ingredients of Mexico and that of his grandmother’s native Hungary.

“She used to make paprikash,” Slattery, 26, recalls, referring to a stew made with braised chicken, browned onions, seasoned with paprika, and served with a sour cream sauce over egg noodles. He adds that he “loves the complexity of flavors and methods” used in Mexican cuisine.

Lest you think Slattery has taken a wacky east European approach to the restaurant’s new menu, not to worry. He’s simply updated many of the offerings, using deft touches of Nuevo Latino cuisine here and there, while keeping the entrees rooted in a Mexican country style:

• The Kobe beef hamburger ($11.95) is topped with chipotle-flavored mayonnaise, slices of avocado, crisp bacon and buttermilk fried onion rings and cheese from Chihuahua.

• A Mexico City-style hot dog ($11.95), which in reality is a pork chorizo link stuffed with cheese and jalapeno, wrapped in bacon and topped with chopped veggies and condiments.

• A Cabo-style enchilada plate ($14.95) featuring grilled skirt steak and shrimp, resembling surf-and-turf.

• A chile relleno ($12.95) stuffed with sauteed spinach and roasted root vegetables, served with a ranchera sauce and dotted with herb goat cheese and golden raisins. (Slattery rebuffed an attempt to use a meat stuffing, declaring that the menu should include some vegetarian items.)

“I wanted to keep the chile relleno,” Slattery says, adding he elected to change up the presentation instead. “They come to expect a dry poblano chile – that’s not the only way to make a chile relleno. And to me, that’s what intrigues me about Mexican cuisine: no matter where you travel in Mexico, everybody has their own unique style.”

The infamous “pink tacos” (so named because the onion garnish is pickled in the bright color) and marinated ribs remain staples on the menu.

Slattery, a graduate of Scottsdale Culinary Institute, has paid his dues as an executive chef at Rosa Mexicano in Atlanta, which is part of a restaurant chain based in New York. There, he would often make up to 100 gallons of mole a week. (Again, you may think that New York is out of reach for authentic Mexican food, but the influx of immigrants to the Big Apple has changed that perception, to the delight of diners there. Even The New York Times ran a story earlier this year about the how population of Mexicans in La Gran Manzana has more than quadrupled to about 300,000.)

While in Atlanta, Slattery would see the same group of Mexican construction workers visit his restaurant for lunch every day, a ritual he considered a compliment. One particular worker would sometimes compare notes with Slattery.

He was thrilled, he says, “when they would tell me it was the best Mexican food they’d ever had.” It’s an endorsement he packed up when he moved back to Phoenix, one that continues to infuse his dishes