hillcrest update: chilango's, universal

we had dinner thursday at the recently-reopened chilango's on university in hillcrest. my pork-with-mole sauce entree was perfect for wrapping in tortillas and dipping in the mild-but-flavorful sauce. jay's chicken entree was spicier and quite tasty too. great to have this place open again; their menu is fairly unique for hillcrest, focusing on mexico city and eastern mexican cuisine. and i like the dark maroon walls and art there.

after dinner we headed over to yogart for dessert, which was busy as usual. with universal opening the next night, we wandered by to get a look. the exterior of the building is very clean looking, and i like the big "hillcrest" sign over the entrance. we peered inside, where a few people (employees? owners?) were milling around the large space. a large open space with dark colored floors fronts the interior. there's a unique gnarled tree backdrop to the main bar, and panels of green and red light in the back round out the interesting, but not groundbreaking, interior. the orange leather booths look good in the front right corner, a lounge area with its own bar.

large doors to the right side of the building suggest easy access to the sidewalk and the outdoor dining area between universal and its very hip-looking restaurant, dish, next door. this area also featured built-in booths near the rear and looked fairly unfinished, but when we drove by tonight it was packed with v.i.p. folks. surely all those glitzy women aren't fag hags.

dish looks great with a light tan and brown color scheme - more interesting than the universal interior, at least from the street. and next door to dish was the brightly-lit ciros, ready to serve up their thin crust pizza. it's strange that this is the only sliced pizza joint in the area, unless you trek to bronx several blocks away. i thought bars and pizza joints were inseparable.

it was exciting to see this once-dormant corner in the heart of hillcrest vibrant and full of people tonight. there's no reason these businesses, the biggest thing to hit hillcrest in memory, should be anything other than the start of a new epicenter in the neighborhood.