Spanish galleons first sailed the Pacific in 1565 during the reign of King Philip II. Along with the lucrative trade in silk and silver, they brought Asian spices and fruit to Mexico, and New World peppers to the Middle Kingdom of China.

Okay. But Chinese and Mexican?

To be clear, the dishes here are not combinations of the two cuisines on one plate. Instead it is a series of small plates that can be combined to create different taste concoctions. So you could get dim sum and tacos or Asian noodles with a cheese tortilla.

Does it work? Well... I guess it depends on your mix and match skills.

Dim Sum includes items like vegetable spring rolls, lamb pot stickers, fried wontons, and their signature "When Pigs Fly" Chinese barbeque pork steamed buns. The latter were a little too doughy for my taste but once you got to the BBQ portion, things livened up considerably.

Tacos include everything from lobster to beef tendon to duck tongue to carnitas to fish and beyond. We sampled the BBQ beef and they were good, but not mind blowing.

There are sizeable From China and From Mexico portions of the menu that add in fried rice, eggplant in soy sauce, chicken lettuce leaf cups, Mongolian beef, ceviches, roasted shrimp, and guacamole among other specialties.

This being a small-plate kind of place, the portions are very small so one thing is probably not going to do it for one person - a lesson we learned at lunch when three people got three things and wound up leaving a bit hungry. And although the prices aren't huge, they will add up quickly if you are doing a bunch of different things. If we had done it properly, our bill for three probably would've been in the $75-$100 range for lunch including beverages, tax, and tip.

China Poblano is getting a lot of attention in the foodie world including a nomination for its chef in the James Beard Awards. The fact that I wasn't bowled over by the unusual union of cuisines may say more about me than it does about the restaurant, but if you want good Chinese food there are better options and if you want good Mexican there are better options. If you want them both at the same time, well, then you should come here.