In the mood for Mexican? Get over to Pascual pronto. It’s the newest restaurant from the power team behind Lutèce: chef Matt Conroy, pastry chef Isabel Coss, and the Popal Group, the family-owned restaurant group, which opened Adams Morgan’s celebrated Afghan spot, Lapis, and the colorful cocktail bar, Lapop, next door.

The first glimmers of Pascual shimmered into existence more than a decade ago. Conroy and Coss met in 2012 while working at Alex Stupak’s Empellón in New York City’s East Village. She was a pastry sous-chef when he arrived to take a sous-chef position, his first time tackling Mexican cuisine.

In the beginning, Coss didn’t like Conroy. “Who is this gringo who thinks he can cook Mexican food?” she remembers thinking. But their stations faced each other, so they would chat and share whatever they were making. He would give her a taco; she’d slip him some dessert. She was impressed. The guy had a natural way with the flavors of her homeland. He was equally smitten with her and her talents. They married about a decade ago.

Eventually, he left Empellón to work alongside chef Justin Bazdarich at Brooklyn’s Oxomoco, which specializes in modern, wood-fired Mexican cuisine. She went on to be the pastry chef at Cosme, the celebrated modern Mexican restaurant by Enrique Olivera, who owns the two-Michelin-Starred Pujol in Mexico City, where Coss got her first kitchen job, baking bread, when she was 17.

The couple always dreamed of helming their own Mexican concept. Eventually, Conroy crossed paths with Popal, and the two sketched out a plan to open a Mexican project down in the District. Conroy quit Oxomoco and headed to Oaxaca, planning on taking six months of some R&R and R&D before starting on the new project. But he cut his time short when Popal called to ask if he could take over the kitchen at his fledgling French “neo bistro,” Lutèce, which opened in Georgetown at the tail end of 2019. Conroy was only there for a month before the pandemic hit.

Originally, Coss was going to stay in New York, but she came down to work at Lutèce doing whatever needed doing: working as a hostess, handling social media, doing graphic design. As time passed, she got a pastry station up and running and transitioned back to making pastries full time. Over the next four years, the couple helped build Lutèce into one of the buzziest restaurants in the city, earning it (and themselves) a bevy of accolades along the way.

Eventually, Conroy, Coss, and Popal began to focus on opening the long-discussed Mexican project. It took some searching, but they finally found a space in Capitol Hill that checked all the boxes. Formerly home to Kenny’s BBQ Smokehouse (Remember when Obama randomly ate there?), the neighbors were used to the smell of burning wood. It’s on the corner and has a patio. There aren’t many other restaurants nearby, and they love the area.

They named the restaurant Pascual in honor of the patron saint of cooks. It opened in mid-February, a welcome addition to a growing list of new wave Mexican restaurants, including Christian Irabién’s Amparo Fondita and the recently expanded Cielo Rojo in Takoma Park.

The space itself is a small, light-toned room, just 30 seats packed closely together, including the tiny bar at the back; a patio adds 40 seats to the equation. Given the coziness, everyone can see into the open kitchen where the center of the action is the wood-fired custom-built grill throwing off alluring smoky scents. Keep an eye out for the pair of women devoted to making tortillas, made with corn from Masienda and Tamoa.

At the bar, mezcal is the spirit of choice, but they have fun with all of them. The No Whey Jose is powered by green tomato juice-infused vodka, spiced with chilies, and sweetened with simple syrup made with leftover whey from the kitchen’s cheesemaking.

All meals should begin with the guacamole, playfully served on a Lazy Susan. Choose your own adventure by topping bits of warm crackly tostadas with the dip and your choice of addendums, including three salsas (matcha, verde, and habanero), various pickles, grilled pineapple, and Tajin-spiced papaya.

Then it’s your choice of small- to medium-size plates with plenty of options for plant-focused eaters. Whatever tlayuda is on offer is worth exploring. A recent spring rendition highlighting asparagus was complemented with green pumpkin seed sauce, streaks of spring onion-infused labneh, and melted pools of Oaxacan cheese.

An aguachile is always in rotation. When I visited, it featured tender folds of raw tuna covered in brilliantly red smoked strawberry juice and dappled with nasturtium leaves for a peppery pop.

There are three large-format entrees, including showstopping lamb neck barbacoa. Cooked overnight in agave leaves, the meat is slip-off-the-bone tender. Paired with an herby onion salad, salsas, and tortillas, it becomes DIY taco night. Speaking of which, there is only one stand-alone taco on the menu—a straightforward al pastor. I wish there were a few more options on that front; it feels like a missed opportunity.

When it comes time to bring your meal to a close, you cannot leave without trying one of Coss’ creations. My recommendation is the oversize bunuelo. Glittering with canela-laced sugar, the crispity crunchity deep-fried dough plays like a giant piece of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Snap off a shard, then spoon on dark chocolate sauce or cajeta (caramelized goat’s milk).

Later this year, there will be more opportunities to sample Coss’ baked goods when the couple fires up Volcán, a daytime walk-up window on the side of Pascual with some outdoor seating. Expect Mexican BUNA coffee, which will power boozy carajillos (think of them as Latin America’s answer to Irish coffee) and dirty horchatas, as well as a range of Mexican pastries, potentially conchas, flan, orejas (elephant ears), tres leches, chocolate chip cookies with toasted cacao nibs, and even bigger bunuelos.

Pascual, 732 Maryland Ave. NE. (202) 450-1954. pascualdc.com.