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A food spread at Tatu Tacos & Tequila in Troy includes, clockwise from left, kibito, spicy popcorn, guacamole with pineapple, shrimp ceviche and, center, masa fritters with black beans, tomato salsa and grated cabbage.

Fish tacos at with pickled red onion Tatu Tacos & Tequila, newly relocated to Troy.

Kibito are fried meatballs stuffed with walnuts and onions and and served over labneh (Lebanese-style strained yogurt). The dish is a nod to chef and co-owner Kareem NeJame's Lebanese heritage.

Co-owners Jennyfur Spaulding and Kareem NeJame opened Tatu Tacos & Tequila in Saratoga Springs in spring 2019. That location closed in December 2021 while the Troy restaurant, above, was being built.

The 80-unit apartment building, at Fourth and Congress street in downtown Troy, is officially called Vicina – Modern Urban Flats. Tatu Tacos & Tequila is the only commercial tenant. 

Shelf space behind the bar at Tatu Tacos & Tequila in Troy is about 60 percent smaller than in the former Tatu in Saratoga Springs, making a tight fit for a collection of tequila and mezcal that will reach 150 bottles, according to the owners.

Central to the spirits program at the new Tatu Tacos & Tequila in Troy will be up to 150 tequilas and mezcals. 

Birria tacos from Tatu Tacos & Tequila, newly relocated to Troy, are part of the national obsession with slow-cooked beef served with a beef-chile dipping sauce. 

Much of the decor from the Saratoga Springs location was moved to or recreated in the new Troy spot, open since July.

Artist and co-owner Jennyfur Spaulding and artist Crystal Brooks did the artwork on the walls of the restroom hallway at the new Tatu Tacos & Tequila in Troy.

The sign for the unisex restrooms at the new Tatu Tacos & Tequila in Troy.

Tatu co-ower and artist Jennyfur Spaulding said she plans to add the word "Troy" to a painting near the front door of the restaurant but won't remove mention of the former home in Saratoga.

Among the artwork transplanted to Tatu Tacos & Tequila in Troy from its original Saratoga Springs location is an illustration of the late chef Anthony Bourdain.

The bar at Tatu Tacos & Tequila, newly relocated to Troy.

Tacos Arabes at Tatu Tacos & Tequila, newly relocated to Troy, are stuffed with slow-cooked lamb and sumac and finished with a lemon yogurt sauce and tomato-parsley salsa. 

Shrimp ceviche Tatu Tacos & Tequila, newly relocated to Troy.

Open for two months as the only commercial space in a new apartment building in downtown Troy, Tatu Tacos & Tequila is across from the venerable Manor's Restaurant, founded in 1913.

Masa fritters at Tatu Tacos & Tequila in Troy are served with black beans, tomato salsa and grated cabbage.

Guacamole with pineapple at Tatu Tacos & Tequila, newly relocated to Troy

Tatu Tacos & Tequila in Troy serves the Mayan dip sikil p'aak, made with pumpkin seeds, tomatoes, onions and habanero chiles.   

Tatu Tacos & Tequila, newly relocated to Troy, includes a separate room for private events or a studio for visiting tattoo artists.

The Smoke Show cocktail at Tatu Tacos & Tequila in Troy packs a punch from mezcal infused with smoked jalapeno and a rim of the chile-lime-salt mixture called Tajin. 

The vibrant decor at Tatu Tacos & Tequila in Troy is the work of artist and co-owner Jennyfur Spaulding. Some lighting fixtures are made from skateboards.

The patio of Tatu Tacos & Tequila, newly relocated to Troy, overlooks the intersection of Fourth and Congress streets.  

Tatu Tacos & Tequila is back with fresh ink on the brand-new walls of a ground-floor commercial space at the Vicini — Modern Urban Flats building in Troy. Having been planned as a second location until Tatu was ousted by the owners of their original in Saratoga Springs, Tatu's new home seems better suited to the restaurant, showing off in its new corner office like a bowerbird proudly completing its elaborate nest. Bringing the same concept to Troy, Lebanese chef Kareem NeJame and his business partner, the artist Jennyfur Spaulding, have once again created an eclectic environment where crystal chandeliers spill light across red booths, and the space is adorned with skateboard light fixtures, rich wallpaper, tin ceilings and tattoo art. It feels as personal as the ink on the owners' skin. 

Those who frequented the Saratoga Springs location will note that whatever wasn’t nailed down has made its way south, and Spaulding has set her art skills on a blank canvas. A new, bright blue acrylic bar has been poured and streaked with white as an airy backdrop for the rows of tequila bottles behind the bar. As with its predecessor, a glass-walled parlor doubles for private dining or tastings and as the location for visiting tattoo artists to ink guests between sips of tequila — surely, the optimal Dutch courage. 

Hours: 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday

Price: Food, $3 to $29; taco trio, $18. Cocktails, $10 to $12; beer or wine by the glass, $4 to $9; wine by the bottle, $32 to $34

Info: 518-874-1028 and tatuny.com

Etc.: Street parking. Steps and ramp to entrance. 

The duo have once again married spice-driven cocktails with the Mayan and Aztec flavors of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula influenced by a century of Lebanese migration, and by a comprehensively curated tequila selection. Among cocktails, the Smoke Show is back in full force, with a potent smoked-jalapeno-infused Los Vecinos mezcal softened with pineapple, citrus and agave, then fired up by a chile-lime-salt Tajin rim. The Full Sleeve has come down from Saratoga Springs in a blend of mezcal and tequila with xocolatl bitters; Hell Followed unites tequila reposado with cherry-scorpion sauce and, for a one-night birthday special, the Thai Me Up deployed Thai basil and Thai chile with coconut milk, hibiscus and mezcal in an homage to Spaulding’s Thai heritage. With a smaller bar, Tatu Troy is less about tracking down every last bottle in production and more about offering favorites in blanco, reposado and anejo for guests to explore aged expressions. 

Troy is no stranger to tacos, with arguably more taco shops in its downtown than any other town upstate. Street Taco VII, La Capital and The Daisy are all also on Fourth Street, and many serve a version of birria, part of our national obsession with dipping tacos. I’m less fond of the dark brown dipping broth here, which flirts close to bitter, though the shredded beef and pan-seared cheese of the taco itself is not hard to love. NeJame is back on the pans, turning out Yucatan classics like sikil p’aak, a dip of toasted pepitas, fire-roasted tomatoes, charred onions and habanero whipped to a smooth puree. It's one of my favorites for its silky nuttiness. I will never miss an opportunity to order campechana, a Yucatan shrimp ceviche with sliced avocado, tomato and lime, best scooped up on house-made tortilla chips, or to top their simple garlic-and-lime guacamole with toasted pepitas and grilled pineapple for texture and a salty-sweet twist. Throw in elotes, the popular Mexican street corn, conveniently shaved from the cob for faster consumption but still dressed in lime mayo, cotija cheese and diced chiles.  

NeJame’s Lebanese-style lamb meatballs, called kibito, are studded with walnuts and drizzled in labneh for a welcome sour tang; his masa fritters (pol’kanes) are stuffed with beans and topped in raw cabbage and salsa, while pibil — chicken cooked in achiote sauce — is fork-shredded and piled on tostadas with pink pickled onions and warmly fragrant cinnamon rice. Only the Tacos Arabes misses a beat in lukewarm soft tortilla wraps that too quickly absorb a lemon-yogurt sauce, though the slow-cooked lamb is a beautiful bite with onions and sumac on top. 

For most, a trip will involve a cocktail and tacos, whether a trio of tender lengua (beef tongue) with barbacoa sauce, pineapple-soaked pork al pastor, sweet potato or grilled fish with roasted poblano and cilantro vinaigrette. Those in the know will go on a Friday or Saturday night for the Tikin Xic, a whole crispy branzino served with tostadas over jicama-mango slaw with honey-jalapeno dressing. 

All the while, the place is busy with ultra-fast service, tables turned quickly, and a DJ or lively soundtrack to match the exuberance of a happy Troy crowd. The corner location is an added bonus, with huge windows through which a neon pink sign promises “Soft Corn Porn” over the heads of diners on the elevated patio facing Fourth Street. Tatu has been open for a hot minute, and it’s already the place to be.

As if surviving the pandemic weren’t strain enough, the relocation of an entire business model reminds me of "The Ecology of Survival," a book about conditions needed to survive or thrive. I can’t help thinking that in Troy, NeJame and Spaulding have found a better habitat in a more offbeat town that reveres art and tacos, classifies cocktails among the creative arts, and has more ink per exposed limb at the Saturday farmers market than you’ll find in Saratoga Springs all week.

Award-winning food and drinks writer and longtime TU dining critic, Susie Davidson Powell, has covered the upstate dining scene for a decade. She writes weekly reviews, a monthly cocktail column and the biweekly e-newsletter The Food Life. Susie has received national awards for food criticism from the Society of Features Journalism and served as a 2020 James Beard Awards judge for New York state. You can reach her at thefoodlifeTU@gmail.com and follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefoodlife.co