Ihave heard glowing reports about Mixteco Grill, and I have heard some that were downright drab. Two major complaints have to do with the tight seating and the often 20-minute wait (out on the street) for a table (reservations are taken, and there is always a chance that the timing for turning tables might be a little too tight).
Yes, the seating is tight, and the atmosphere is revamped coffee shop. But if you can roll with it, there is a great party atmosphere going on here. Owner/chef Raul Arreola has done kitchen time at Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, and Fonda del Mar, so he has the food cred, as well as a strong following.
This is Mexican food that rises a notch or two above the ordinary. There were one or two miscues, but nothing so drastic that it would not make me want to go back for more. (Note: As of this writing Mixteco Grill was BYOB).
If you are a fan of mole sauces you will be well satisfied. Mole verde, Oaxacan black mole, red mole, and Oaxacan green mole are paired with a chicken here, a fish there and enchiladas as well.
Excellent chips and salsa arrived about the same time as the menus, so in case you were waiting for a table, it gets abated rather quickly.)
Trio de empanadas was next up. Three crispy turnovers were filled to the brim. One was stuffed with cheese and epazote, another with huitlacoche (corn fungus -- a delicacy -- also called "Mexican truffle"), and another with beef picadillo. There was a burst of flavors in each bite from the softness of the cheese to the rustic enjoyment of the beef, to the earthiness of the huitlacoche. And the avocado-tomatillo salsa made the perfect dipping sauce.
The guacamole is as good as I have had anywhere, and I liked that it was made with chunks of avocado (not a puree of avocado) tangled up with diced tomato, chiles, onions and cilantro. Lime juice is a key ingredient in guacamole, and I would have liked it even more if the guacamole had been spiked a bit more, but that's just me.
A lighter and refreshing way to start off here had to do with a salad -- ensalada con salmon ahumado --which was a simple fluff of crisp greens piled atop a shingle of silky smoked salmon with crumbles of queso fresco and a light cilantro dressing.
Entree choices were not many -- ten in all -- but a close read of each dish and how it was put together impressed me. For example, chuleta en mole negro was a mighty meaty grilled pork chop, sliced and fanned out on the bone. A mirror of terrific Oaxacan black mole sauce dotted with sesame seeds flowed around the chop and pushed up against a mound of excellent garlic mashed potatoes.
Pollito envinado (wood-grilled baby chicken) was not so great. About the size of a pigeon or smaller, it was a bit of work just trying to pluck some meat off those tiny bones. The guajillo-tomato sauce and the crispy potato cake (actually more like hashbrowns) were OK, but to pay $16 for a scrawny chicken is just plain foul.
It's hard to figure out how they price their dishes at Mixteco Grill. The chicken vis a vis pricing was a bummer. On the other hand, the wood-grilled salmon in a delicious yellow mole sauce with grilled zucchini and rice, which is priced at $15, was an out-and-out bargain. A generous fillet, a fine sauce and very good accompaniments all added up to a good value.
Desserts. I have two winners to recommend. The classic pastel de tres leches (three milks cake) was one of the best I've had. The texture of this layer cake was perfect (sometimes the milks get in the way of the cake and it gets downright spongy).
On a par with the cake was the nevado de chocolate or warm chocolate cake (Mixteco Grill's version of chocolate lava cake). Richly endowed with chocolate flavor, it had a consistency that bordered on fudge. A generous scoop of rich chocolate ice cream accompanied the cake.
