You’d have to travel far, one would think, to find a restaurant where some of the most popular dishes on the menu are Caldo de Pollo, a Mexican riff on Vietnamese Pho; Tacos Chinos that actually are Vietnamese spring rolls; Chilaquiles; and Cajeta pancakes so fluffy they seem to float on the plate, topped with sliced bananas, crème fraiche, cajeta caramel and candied peanuts.
That’s in addition to burgers, huevos rancheros, ceviche, elote, posole, chilaquiles, carne asada, tortas, and pork belly marinated in achiote adobo, marinated and grilled, topped with citrus glaze and served on flour tortillas with escabeche.
There’s much more, but you get the picture. The menu at Otro Café, on 7th Street just north of Bethany Home Road, is a mash-up of Mexican, Vietnamese and standard American cuisines. No surprise, given chef/owner Doug Robson’s upbringing.
Robson was born in Mexico City, the son of a Vietnamese/French mother and English father, both of them avid cooks. He later moved to San Antonio, Texas, where he developed a taste for Tex-Mex cuisine, then to Arizona, where he attended the Scottsdale Culinary Institute.
Robson went on to open La Grande Orange as executive chef, then Chelsea’s Kitchen, before opening his own restaurant, Gallo Blanco Café, in 2009. Otro opened in March 2013. In April, he opened a third restaurant, Tesota, in the former Southern Rail restaurant site on Camelback at 3rd Avenue.
Gallo Blanco Café is known for a menu focusing on the Central Mexico region and Mexico City.
“When I opened Otro, it was an opportunity to focus more on some of my other experiences,” Robson said. “I didn’t want to do a cookie-cutter restaurant. We decided to do things that are traditional, but a little bit different, focusing more on Northern Mexico, even border town Mexican food. When I moved to the states, I ended up enjoying that Norteño-style food most of the time, but I also felt there was a compelling reason to do some of my mom’s recipes, which you see sprinkled in our menu.”
That Vietnamese influence is best seen in Otro’s Tacos Chinos and Caldo de Pollo. “The caldo is like my mom’s pho (a classic Vietnamese soup),” Robson said. “Most phos are made with a lot of caramelized yellow onion and sugar, but we don’t put sugar in it.
“The Tacos Chinos are basically Cha Gio, Vietnamese spring rolls. That’s my mom’s recipe. She used to make them for my brother and I when we were growing up. We didn’t call them Cha Gio because we were Mexican, so we called them Tacos Chinos.”
The crispy fried rolls, rice paper wrapped around a ground pork filling and served with lettuce leaves, Thai basil and sweet chile and soy sauces, are a customer favorite. Robson learned that the hard way when he took them off the menu. Customers made such a fuss that they were added back, he said.
Like his peers in the Valley’s humming restaurant scene, Robson focuses on fresh and local, with purveyors like One Windmill Farm in Queen Creek and Two Wash Ranch in New River.
Otro Café’s Cajeta pancakes take center stage here, along with Grilled pork belly and Tacos Chinos – in the background, coffee and pastries in the next-door coffee shop, (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News). 
Tacos Chinos at Otro Café (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News) 
Grilled pork belly at Otro Café (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News) 
Coffee and pastries are available in Otro’s adjacent coffee shop (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News)
“We work with other small farmers and vendors,” he said. “If you look in our freezer, we have ice cream in there and not much else. We cook from scratch on a daily basis, from our soups, stocks and sauces to everything in between.”
Much of the food is grilled over mesquite, which adds to a mouthwatering aroma that hits visitors as they walk in the doors.
“Our kitchens are our toys, and we like to play with these toys,” Robson said. “We don’t want to use your typical ingredients, because that’s kind of boring, so we always aspire to find unique ingredients that people either are unfamiliar with or that people make in a unique way.”
An example is Otro’s Inca salad, with quinoa, dried cranberries, pepitas, tomato, greens, herbs, red onion, avocado, grilled corn, lime, vinaigrette and yulu, a high-fiber, crunchy, protein-rich seed with a savory flavor. The seeds are a pre-Columbian staple only cultivated in Mexico, Robson said.
“When I opened Gallo Blanco, Chris Bianco introduced me to the only family that has the license to import it.
“Quinoa is another ingredient that is native to Latin America. It was a big staple grain for the Incas. It’s a very hearty, healthy dish, but very delicious as well.”
Now about those pancakes.
“Pancakes have always been my guilty pleasure,” Robson said. “In Mexico, you’ll see street vendors who make pancakes, stuff them and roll them, almost like a crepe. I asked them, ‘Why is this so moist, what’s your trick?’ And they said, ‘We put sour cream in them.’”
The pancakes are so popular, the kitchen can’t keep up with the weekend demand, Robson said, so they’re expanding the kitchen so there’s more room for flapjacks and other favorites.
Speaking of busy weekends – figure at least a 30- to 45-minute wait at prime times – some customers drop by the coffee shop, an adjacent space in the strip mall added to Otro two years ago for expresso drinks, house-made pastries and nieves (ice cream) to stave off hunger until their table is ready. Believe me, you’ll still have room for those pancakes.
Otro Cafe, at 6035 N. 7th St., is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily. For more information, call 602-266-0831, or visit www.otrocafe.com.
