Paloma

Trying again is great if at first you don't succeed, but what're you supposed to do if you totally kick ass the first time? If you're the folks behind the Northeast resto Paloma, you shutter it, move it, and reopen tonight as...Paloma

After 10 beyond-strong years on Castor Ave, the chef/lawyer couple behind Paloma took the Brunswick Zone-esque interior of the former Mezzaluna and calmed it down to a dining room filled with folk and classical Mexican artwork and white linen-topped tables at which to devour a retouched menu of their haute French-Mexican cuisine, prepared mild and optionally served with a spicy house sauce, which presumably comes measured by the ooontz. Starters include the Castillo de Jaiba (jumbo lump crab meat with avocado, tomatoes, and a lemon vinaigrette), Sopa de Poblano (puree of roasted poblanos garnished with shrimp or poached oyster), and smoked salmon mixed with roasted poblanos, shallots, and creme fraiche layered between phyllo sheets called the Smoked Salmon Napoleon, with the fish sourced from only the freshest Waterloos. Entrees keep up the Franxican theme with Huachinago a la Veracruzana (pan-seared red snapper filet with olives, peppers, and capers in tomato coulis), Pechuga de Pato (boneless duck breast stuffed with marney puree), and pan-seared filet of black bass with mango salsa called the Black Bass Don Antonio, which will have you sleeping with the fishes if you don't agree to eat them

While they get a feel for the neighborhood, Paloma's dinner-only, and they're BYO until the liquor license comes through -- so even if you first succeed in having a bottle of wine, you know what to do.