Jonathan Magallanes is the local prince of fresh Mexican food, an enthusiastic and creative kitchen force who has accustomed us to paying $20-plus for scallop tortas and king crab tacos and doing it gladly. His short rib tacos are intense, flavor bombs that require a stack of napkins. They are worth every bit of drippy mess.

At Las Tortugas, Jonathan and his father, Pepe (who runs the East Memphis store), shop locally and they do it daily, so they pick out the ingredients themselves. This matters across the board, but it really matters with the avocados.

Jonathan, looking for something to do beyond slicing them on tacos or using them in traditional guacamole, came up with a sweet new take on the standard dip: He uses pomegranate arils (seeds) in place of tomato, adds herbs and limits seasoning to salt. It’s clean, creamy, tart, spicy – a keeper for sure. And so easy.

One tip: While you can buy prepackaged pomegranate arils, Jonathan doesn’t like them, and they’re seasonal.

Removing the seeds from fresh pomegranate is easy, though: Fill a bowl with water, cut the pomegranate across the equator, hold over the water, whack it and watch the seeds fall out. The water helps contain the juice, which keeps them from staining everything. Drain, use and refrigerate the leftovers.

Source: Jonathan Magallanes, Las Tortugas, 1215 S. Germantown Road