Mixto whips up elegant Latin fusion cuisine

Amidst the aged wares clustered on Pine Street's Antique Row, Mixto restaurant is bringing a new life to Latin cuisine.

True to its name, it serves up a fusion of South American and Caribbean foods. The main influences are Cuban and Colombian, but Ecuadorian and Spanish culinary traditions are also represented, and the chef, Miguel Leon, is a native of Venezuela.

Mixto's ambiance is a combination of old-fashioned bar -- dark wood walls, dark ceiling, Cuban jazz -- and upscale hot spot -- frosted glass doors, exposed brick walls. On sunny days, the front wall of glass doors is opened to the outside.

The bilingual Spanish-English lunch menu at Mixto features breakfast items as well as entrees, soups and salads. Breakfast dishes are mostly familiar with a few Latin twists -- French toast, for example, comes with plantains on the side ($5.25). Arepas -- corn patties stuffed with a choice of meats, eggs or cheeses (varying price) -- stood out as one of the few uniquely Latin offerings for breakfast.

My guest and I ordered "batidos de frutas," or smoothies ($3.75), to start -- I sampled the blackberry and she tried the mango. Other offered flavors included guava, tamarind and soursop. The drinks took 15 minutes to arrive, but were made with fresh fruit.

In the meantime, we were presented with a hot basket of bread fried in butter, an appetizer whose appeal belied the simplicity of its ingredients.

Much of Mixto's offerings followed in that vein. My guest ordered the avocado and mango salad ($7.50), which was merely avocado and mango presented on a bed of lettuce with a cilantro, lime and ginger dressing. But the avocado and mango were both perfectly ripe, and the dressing's flavors were well-balanced, but not overpowering.

"It's very summery and clean," my guest said. "Very fresh."

I ordered the saffron rice with shrimp and maduro plantains ($13.50). Again, the dish was plain but extremely well-prepared -- the plantains crisped on the outside and melted on the inside. The shrimp were fried into the rice along with small chunks of tomatoes, and the only hint of pretension was a sprinkling of green herbs around the plate's perimeter.

A black bean soup ($3.50) was the only dish that was perhaps too simplistic -- nothing more than a bowl of stewed and flavored black beans -- it was still tasty but spartan.

Our waiter, Wisam El Achkar, provided consistently attentive, smiling service, despite seeming perpetually hurried.

Mixto seats 110, and according to El Achkar, fills up almost every single night. The usual clientele includes many Latinos, perhaps drawn by the almost entirely Spanish-speaking staff, but also a sizable number of individuals from the neighboring "Gayborhood," as well as some older residents.

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