La Reina

La Reina is Spanish for the queen, and the name fits a corner that has grown into it. The downtown Guelph dining room sits where Van Gogh's Ear once pulled crowds, at Wyndham and Macdonell, and when it opened in 2018 it traded the old bar's footprint for tacos, a deep tequila list, and a Day-of-the-Dead design language that reads as confident rather than costume. The food and the bar carry equal weight here, which is the first thing to understand about how the place works.

The menu opens with tacos and keeps finding new things to do with them. Birria is the clearest statement of intent: crisp brisket tacos with Oaxaca cheese, pickled onions, guacamole, and a side of broth for dipping. Al Pastor runs alongside as the bright counterpoint, grilled and shaved pork with charred pineapple, avocado salsa, white onion, and cilantro. From there the list spreads into buttermilk-fried chicken, shrimp in serrano brown butter, Baja haddock in a gluten-free batter, seared halloumi, and a wild-and-tame mushroom taco that turns vegan without its aioli. Past the tacos the kitchen gets more ambitious. Lamb Adobo arrives as a slow-braised bone-in shank in orange and guajillo sauce over hominy stew, and Pickerel Veracruz plates seared Ontario fish with tomato, poblano, capers, kalamata olives, and banana-leaf-steamed turmeric-and-ginger rice. The favourites list rounds it out with mushroom enchiladas under salsa rancheros, a poblano-braised pork burrito or bowl, and a spicy shrimp quesadilla cut with black-magic hot sauce.