Isabel’s Amor, the new Mexican concept from the family behind the local Someburros chain, opens today on the northwest corner of Val Vista and Williams Field in Gilbert.
Named after the Vasquez family’s late matriarch, the 2,200-square-foot restaurant features a cozy 55-seat dining room, a small bar, and a wrap-around patio with an additional 65 seats.
Photos: First look at Isabel’s Amor in Gilbert
The single-page menu is a tightly edited selection of eight appetizers, two soups, two salads, six tortas (sandwiches), and 11 entrees. There are no burros.
Highlights include the Frijoles de Amor appetizer ($6), a cast-iron skillet of creamy refried beans topped with cheese and green onions and drizzled with jalapeno cream cheese.
(Pictured: Baja Shrimp Coctel, $9)
Other house specialties: Steak piicado ($16), tender beef sauteed with blistered chiles, tomatoes, and onions, and carnitas ($15, tender pork slowly braised in citrus and spices and broiled for a crispy finish.
Fillings for tortas ($9 with steak fries) range from carne asada to chorizo and egg to avocado and cucumber. Pozole ($8) will be available on weekends.
Tortillas, both corn and wheat, will be made in-house every morning. Fresh tortilla chips will be made all day.
For dessert, there’s churros con crema, flan, horchata rice pudding, and Cheesecake in a Jar (all $6).
The bar offers about 30 tequilas (house margaritas are $7), nine wines (each by the glass or bottle), and several brands of Mexican beer (including six beers from Los Muertos Brewing, one of Mexico’s few craft breweries).
Isabel’s Amor is open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday, and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday.
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