Inside La Noria, Southwest Detroit’s New Spot for Pueblan Tacos and Pizza

Southwest Detroit’s hotly anticipated new restaurant La Noria debuted in mid-March along Michigan Avenue. Chef and owner Noberto Garita has already proven himself adept at both Mexican and Italian cooking having devoting the menu at his first fine-dining destination El Barzon in equal parts to the two styles of cuisine. However, the restaurant rarely blended those flavors together in the traditional “fusion” sense. That’s not the case at La Noria. Here, the flavors from Italy and Garita’s hometown of Puebla, Mexico, are both offered separately and in the same dishes with some intriguing results.

Take, for example, the pizzas that are baked in a red, wood-fired oven installed in La Noria’s bricked-in main dining area. Customers can expect all the trappings of a thin-crust Neapolitan-style pizza with toppings like arugula and prosciutto alongside Mexican-influenced options like the slightly spicy chicken mole pizza and a pie topped with spiced grasshoppers (a common food in Puebla). The menu also offers popular Pueblan dishes such as tacos arabes (a style of taco using a flour tortilla and meat sliced shawarma-style from a rotating spit) and cemitas — sandwiches served on sesame-topped rolls and overflowing with breaded meat and Oaxaca cheese.

Michelle and Chris Gerard

Beyond the menu, La Noria also features a full bar pouring beer, wine, and cocktails in comfortable view of a handful of flat screen TVs for patrons looking to catch a game while grabbing a bite to eat. In warm weather, the restaurant will also have an indoor-outdoor feel thanks to garage doors installed throughout the main bar and dining space.

Photographers Michelle and Chris Gerard stopped by La Noria to take in the completed renovations and a few of the dishes. Take a look around the casual Mexican-Italian restaurant in the gallery below.

Michelle Gerard

(Top) Salmon and arugula; (left) Grilled skirt steak with cactus and avocado; (right) A calzone and garlic knots.

La Noria is located at 5517 Michigan Ave.; open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

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