New Mexican restaurant to open in historic Raleigh neighborhood. A look at the menu

A historic Raleigh neighborhood has a new Mexican restaurant, brought by a couple of familiar faces in the local food scene.

Otomi Comida y Cocteles is celebrating its grand opening 6-9 p.m. July 19 with live music and food and drink specials. The restaurant is located near Oakwood in the East Mordecai neighborhood, at 1000 Brookside Drive in the former Brookside Bodega space.

Lee Robinson, the owner of the longtime Raleigh restaurant Irregardless , and Juan Carlos Lugo, a former executive chef of the restaurant, have partnered to open the new Mexican eatery.

The menu at Otomi is personal to Robinson and Lugo, who worked at Irregardless for 11 years. The restaurant was founded in 1975 by Arthur Gordon and Andy Arnold as Raleigh’s first vegetarian restaurant; the founders sold Irregardless to Robinson and Trophy Brewing co-owner David Meeker in 2020. Over the years, Irregardless started offering meat, and it has become known for its brunch.

“Whenever Juan cooked for his work family, he’d cook the food that his mom had cooked back home,” Robinson said in a press release. “Some of our favorite food to come out of that kitchen was the food he made for us.”

Otomi Comida y Cocteles menu

Otomi will feature guisados, which refer to dishes that Lugo’s mom, Enedina Lugo, who grew up in central Mexico where the Otomi language is spoken. A few examples are chile rellenos , chicharron con salsa verde , which is fried pork belly with tomatillo sauce, and arroz rojo , traditional Mexican rice made with tomato sauce, peas and carrots.

Tacos , quesadillas , burritos , carnitas , chorizo al pastor and birria are also on the menu.

Otomi is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday.

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