14 / 20 How we score Mexican $$ $$ “We have kangaroos in the north of Mexico,” says our waiter with a twinkle in his eye and a plate of roo skewers in his hand. I believe him for a moment. It might be because I’m sipping Snake in the Grass, a cocktail with gin and raicilla (a spirit similar to mezcal) or it might be because Mexi-Melbourne bar and restaurant Mesa Verde, six storeys up and in business for 11 years, creates its own reality.
If we can have Yucatan-style pork tacos in a sky-high saloon in the heart of the city, then why can’t there be kangaroos hopping around Chihuahua? Mesa Verde is in Curtin House, bought derelict in 2000 by investor Tim Peach, who went on to curate it as a “vertical laneway”. Thai restaurant Cookie launched in 2003, then Rooftop Cinema in 2006, late-night cabaret The Toff in Town in 2007 and Mesa Verde in 2013. Some things have been consistent over the restaurant’s first decade.
Riding the juddering elevator is still the vertical version of the vintage City Circle tram. Spaghetti Western projections flicker on the walls and the hefty timber bar with its brass cash registers recalls a Sergio Leone tableau. Over time, the loungey space has been smartened with horseshoe booths and coloured pendant lights.
DJs now amp up the late-night vibe, and one end of the drinking counter has become a “raw bar” where chefs shuck oysters to serve with margarita granita shooters ($14) and dress kingfish belly ($18) with frisky pineapple aguachi.