Looking over the menu at Mari Luna Latin Grille is like browsing through a stack of travel brochures.
There is churrasco from Portugal, paella from Spain, ropa vieja from Cuba and chamorro de cordero — a lamb shank preparation popular in Mexico. Other offerings, like ceviche and empanadas, are popular throughout Latin America. It's hard to choose when you can have everything.
But scattered on the menu are a few dishes, like a plantain-crusted grouper and a pan-seared salmon with honey-mango glaze, that come across as a chef's personal interpretation of Latin cuisine, something you couldn't find anywhere else in town.
The chef in question is Jaime Luna, who owns both Mari Luna Latin Grille and its sister restaurant, Mari Luna Mexican Grill, a BYOB located in a former ice cream store.
Of the two, Mari Luna Latin Grille is larger, more formal and more ambitious. Bright and cheerful, with enough room to accommodate large, celebratory parties, his second restaurant also gives Luna more room to show off the considerable talent and skills he honed at places like Michel Richard's acclaimed Georgetown restaurant, the bygone Citronelle.
Dinner is an occasion at Mari Luna Latin Grille, which has something else that the Mexican Grill does not — a liquor license. A small wine list features affordable options from Argentina and Chile. There are bottled beers from Brazil, Nicaragua, Mexico and El Salvador, and among the six beers on draft are local brews from Heavy Seas, Flying Dog and Brewer's Art. The cocktail list is strong on rum-, tequila- and mezcal-based drinks. But you can also get a good, strong Manhattan splashed with grapefruit bitters.
There's a terrific moment early on, while you're relaxing with your cocktail and looking over the menu, when you receive a Luna signature item: a basket filled with large, airy and buttery popovers and softened mango butter to spread on them. Dig in, and order the appetizer trio of guacamole preparations, served with crispy multicolored tortilla chips.
There are other dishes worth recommending. In an appetizer of gambas al ajillo — the classic Spanish preparation with tomatoes and garlic — the shrimp were firm and the sauce was zesty. The saltenas Bolivianas —golden empanadas stuffed with chicken, peas, eggs, raisins and olives — were a light and savory appetizer.
The grouper was far and away my favorite dish on a recent visit. The fish itself was firm and moist under its simply seasoned, sweet and peppery plantain crust, which was pleasantly moist but not oily. Its accompanying creole sauce added just the right notes of piquancy.
We loved another entree, too. Topped with crispy onion rings and bathed in a savory tequila sauce, the Mexican-style filet mignon preparation called Matamoros was well-seasoned and tender.
There were a few things I wouldn't order again. The black-bean soup has a nice creamy texture but was too bland. The shrimp, squid and scallops in the paella de mariscos tasted like they were late additions to the rice dish, when you want them to taste like the whole dish has been simmered in unison.
The dessert list is enticing and impressively large. A rich dark-chocolate torte — moist cake layered with creamy chocolate mousse — was our favorite. We loved a fluffy bread pudding topped with syrupy fruit, too. But a vanilla tres leche cake didn't deliver the intense condensed-milk toothache that you find in the best versions of this soaked sponge cake.
When we visited, Luna himself was working in his kitchen, emerging now and then to greet familiar faces. That was good to see. After opening two successful restaurants, Luna stumbled with a third, Mari Luna Bistro, which never seemed to get a foothold in its location across from Myerhoff Symphony Hall.
But seven years in, Mari Luna Latin Grille appears be doing fine. The main dining room, a warm, comfortable space painted in bold red, yellow and blues, wasn't quite full when we visited. It felt lively, though, like a place where people were happy to be.