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No matter how elevated a culture gets, if it wants to remain vital it must remember its roots -- even if its roots are an alcohol that makes you forget everything. See what that's all about, at Mamajuna.

Housed in the former Chispa space (gutted and revamped with colonial earth tones, tile floors, Taíno Indian statues, and pan-Latin American art), Mama serves up Latin cuisine that's fairly nuevo, but's named for its antigua signature beverage: Taíno Indian/Dominican mountain hooch made with rum, wine, herbs, tree roots, and bark, and reputed to cure everything from the flu to flaccidity. As for the grub, vast app choices include boards of cheese (Manchego, Tetilla, Cabrales) or meat (chorizo Cantipalo, jamon Serrano, salchichon), plus more involved numbers like shrimp w/ coconut, plantain, and mamajuana apricot glaze, and mix of clams, mussels, calamari, bay scallops, shrimp, lobster, and crab called "Ceviche 7 Potencias" (also a culinary-themed Yul Brenner vehicle). Entrees range from Cornish hen w/ potato & lobster chorizo hash; to "Mamajuana Paella" (saffron rice, chorizo, calamari, shrimp, clams, mussels, 1/2 lobster); to "Puerquito": slow-roasted pork w/ onion escabeche and pigeon pea rice (but wouldn't it poop it?).

Drinks cover the new school -- e.g., "Taíno" (Malibu, Southern Comfort, fresh limes, passion puree) and "Gengibre" (vodka, fresh lemon juice, fresh crushed pineapple, ginger puree) -- the old school (red & white sangria), and the very old school, in the form of actual mamajuana shots. If it works as it's supposed to, it should remember your root.

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