I was in Oaxaca a few years ago and I remember cactus soup, market tamales, mole amarillo broth, squash blossoms stuffed in peppers, rose petal sorbet. There’s a new restaurant here, Espita Mezcaleria, which is suggestive of the region but doesn’t reproduce its unique and unparalleled cuisine. They really can’t; we don’t have the ingredients for it. What they do have are flashy North American takes on southern Mexican food, like ceviche on blood oranges; avocado and romaine with beans and Chihuahua cheese on tortillas; ramps and peas over cheese. And, of course, many creative ideas for tacos. They do have a dark chocolate mole sauce with chicken that’s similar to what you’d find in Oaxaca; whether a lot of Americans order it is another question. Moles can be earthy and subdued, with a character almost like a French sauce, and here we expect Mexican food to be “spicy.” You can order something like what the Hotel Casa Oaxaca calls a Mezcaltini, which has mezcal and lime and I don’t care what else.
(Photo: Mitla, state of Oaxaca, Mexico.)
365 Days of Food 