Cantina Laredo

The Restaurant

Cantina Laredo occupies the corner of Branson Landing's outdoor mall directly facing Lake Taneycomo at the foot of Main Street, with a long wall of windows looking onto the boardwalk and the lake's evening fountain show. The room is the upscale-Mexico-City format the Cantina Laredo group has refined across thirty US locations — exposed-brick walls, hand-glazed talavera tile inlays at the bar, leather banquettes, an open ceviche bar at the entrance — and seats about 140 across the main floor and a long lakeside patio that opens for service April through October.

The kitchen runs a Mexico-City-leaning gourmet Mexican menu — not Tex-Mex — under executive chef Carlos Vidana. Signature dishes include the tableside guacamole prepared in a volcanic-rock molcajete with hand-crushed tomatillo and serrano (the most-ordered dish in the room); a wood-grilled Pacific corvina with poblano cream and roasted-corn esquites; a slow-cooked carnitas with pickled red onion and orange-mojo; and the chilean-sea-bass with chipotle-wine sauce that has been on the menu since the chain opened. The dessert programme is led by a dark-chocolate flan made with Mexican Ibarra chocolate that has become a regional reputation in itself.

The bar programme is a serious operation — about thirty premium tequilas, a selected mezcal selection, and an award-winning house margarita made with Casamigos Reposado, fresh-squeezed lime, and a hand-pressed lime sugar rim. The wine list is shorter (about sixty bottles) but thoughtful, with a focused Spanish and Argentine section that pairs cleanly with the menu. For visitors who want an elegant but unstuffy dinner with a lakeside view and a bar programme that justifies the trip on its own, Cantina Laredo is the Branson Landing answer.