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Chilies & Chocolate Oaxacan Kitchen

Nathan

By Nathan
in New York: Dining

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Nathan

Nathan

Posted
Posted

and a reason to go to Park Slope (heck, I was just there on Saturday night -- if only I'd known).

according to Florence, this place is already open.

interesting that the Times has it and none of the food blogs or chowhound.

goodness knows, NY could deal with having its first Oaxacan restaurant.

donbert

donbert

Posted
Posted

Here's a link to the where it was mentioned in the times today.

CHILIES & CHOCOLATE OAXACAN KITCHEN This Mexican spot specializes in moles. You can order a fried grasshopper to nibble with your tequila: 54 Seventh Avenue (Lincoln Place), Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 230-7700.

themaninwhite works practically across the street. Maybe he can check it out for us today.

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themaninwhite

themaninwhite

Posted
Posted
Here's a link to the where it was mentioned in the times today.
CHILIES & CHOCOLATE OAXACAN KITCHEN This Mexican spot specializes in moles. You can order a fried grasshopper to nibble with your tequila: 54 Seventh Avenue (Lincoln Place), Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 230-7700.

themaninwhite works practically across the street. Maybe he can check it out for us today.

unfortunately i'd already eaten, but i picked up the menu. i'll check out the food tomorrow.

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Nathan

Nathan

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

this is really really exciting.

thanks much!

A.J. Ayer would have taught an entire seminar off their description of the mole verde -- "like the mole negro but completely different"

now if they just added a manchamanteles and a coloradito...

Eatmywords

Eatmywords

Posted
Posted

Damn, I can't make out much but I do see the word "Moles". That's enough for me. I'm in!

I like the "We're not a Mexican Restaurant" ref followed by "Postres", "Flanes"

That wasn't chicken

Nathan

Nathan

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

they're trying to point out that they're not a Pueblan restaurant like every other Mexican restaurant in the area.

John S.

John S.

Posted
Posted
I passed by and noticed it a few nights ago. The menu looks really good. I have plans to go there for dinner tonight, so I'll update you all here later this evening.

Can't wait to hear back!

John S.

John S.

Posted
Posted
CHILIES & CHOCOLATE OAXACAN KITCHEN This Mexican spot specializes in moles. You can order a fried grasshopper to nibble with your tequila: 54 Seventh Avenue (Lincoln Place), Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 230-7700.

If Oaxacan food isn't Mexican I don't know what is! The fried grasshoppers sound like Mexico City, where you can also get insect mole (ant to be exact).

I think it sounds like a good reason to visit NYC (combined with visiting my daughter of course). I'm also happy that so many people replied to the thread. There are Mexican food fans there after all, albeit frustrated at the dearth of eateries...

rancho_gordo

rancho_gordo

Posted
Posted
CHILIES & CHOCOLATE OAXACAN KITCHEN This Mexican spot specializes in moles. You can order a fried grasshopper to nibble with your tequila: 54 Seventh Avenue (Lincoln Place), Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 230-7700.

If Oaxacan food isn't Mexican I don't know what is! The fried grasshoppers sound like Mexico City, where you can also get insect mole (ant to be exact).

I think of the grasshoppers as a very Oaxacan thing. Maybe I'm wrong.

Visit beautiful Rancho Gordo!

Twitter @RanchoGordo

"How do you say 'Yum-o' in Swedish? Or is it Swiss? What do they speak in Switzerland?"- Rachel Ray

Habeas Brulee

Habeas Brulee

Posted
Posted

All right, here's the first review.

They've only been open for a few days, and they're obviously still trying to get on their feet. The guy (waiter? manager? everything?) was explaining to everyone who called or came in that new menus will be printed shortly. There were a lot of things on the menu they just didn't have in yet. Like grasshoppers.

This made me very sad. I wanted to try grasshoppers! But he did reassure me that the grasshoppers are on their way, and once they arrive he will be happy to serve me some without the guac (which I never like), and said, "we'll have fun watching you munch on them." Fantastic!

Yesterday was sort of the first day of winter, so they seemed to be getting a lot of delivery orders, but the restaurant itself was almost empty. The delivery guy isn't on top of things yet, either; I had to give him directions to one place on his way out.

Onto the actual food.

We tried one appetizer, two mains, and three desserts.

The shrimp ceviche was actually very nice. Just hot enough for me, sweet, heavy on the lime juice, and flavorful.

The stewed pork with mole negro was less nice. For some reason I expected the pork to be more tender than it actually was (well, that's what 'stewed' usually means to me). I really enjoyed the way the plaintains came through as a primary flavor note in the mole, but overall, the mole tasted sort of burned to me.

To be fair, I'm no expert on Oaxacan food, and it is entirely possible that this was a matter of my palate and the cuisine rather than this particular restaurant's execution of the dish. I hope someone who is more familiar with the cuisine goes to check it out and then reports back here, so I can find out if it was me or them that was the problem.

The chiles y chocolate shrimp were better. They, too, tasted a bit too charred to me, but I liked the flavor and the heat of them.

Still, nothing special from either of the mains.

Then came the desserts.

The tres leches cake was, well, cake. It looked like a plain white cake with buttercream frosting like you'd see at a kid's birthday party, and it tasted like one, too. It did absolutely nothing for me.

The chocolate raisin tamales were more interesting. I enjoyed the bitterness of the chocolate, though I wish the masa had been sweeter to contrast with it.

The traditional flan was fantastic. Really, the best flan I've had in a very long time. I usually find flan a bit too jello-ish, but this time, it was so utterly creamy and lovely that I would drop in just to order it again.

http://www.habeasbrulee.com
Sneakeater

Sneakeater

Posted
Posted (edited)
But he did reassure me that the grasshoppers are on their way,

I don't know which mental image to go with: this swarm of grasshoppers doggedly hopping up to Park Slope from southern Mexico, or the Twelve Plagues.

(I can't wait to munch on the chapulines either.)

Edited by Sneakeater (log)
Sneakeater

Sneakeater

Posted
Posted
For some reason I expected the pork to be more tender than it actually was (well, that's what 'stewed' usually means to me). . . .

I don't think that criticism arises from the cuisine. Instead, I think it's part of the "cheap Mexican restaurant" syndrome. People expect these places to be cheap, and so they are, and so they can't afford first-rate raw materials (especially proteins). It's really too bad.

Nathan

Nathan

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted (edited)

I didn't make out that they do have coloradito on the menu!

edit: to really test their Oaxacan chops...I would order all of their moles and try them with turkey.

Edited by Nathan (log)
John S.

John S.

Posted
Posted
All right, here's the first review.......

The stewed pork with mole negro was less nice. For some reason I expected the pork to be more tender than it actually was (well, that's what 'stewed' usually means to me). I really enjoyed the way the plaintains came through as a primary flavor note in the mole, but overall, the mole tasted sort of burned to me.

Thanks for the review! Hmmm, a mixed one for sure. Hopefully you'll have a better experience next time you go. If I can point out that black mole is super hard to find even here where there are tons of Mexican places. Only the regional (Oaxacan) or upscale ones have it. Reed Hearon opened a restaurant on Chestnut in SF a number of years ago (gone now). They specialized in black mole. One of the hallmarks of black mole is that you burn the chile seeds in the pan then add them to the mole. That causes the bitterness you noticed. So it sounds authentic... But any mole should always be as smooth as silk, unlike a pipian which is textured with chopped nuts ans such. A good source for info on Oaxacan cuisine is Chile Pepper magazine February, 1995.

Habeas Brulee

Habeas Brulee

Posted
Posted
One of the hallmarks of black mole is that you burn the chile seeds in the pan then add them to the mole. That causes the bitterness you noticed.  So it sounds authentic... But any mole should always be as smooth as silk, unlike a pipian which is textured with chopped nuts ans such.  A good source for info on Oaxacan cuisine is Chile Pepper magazine February, 1995.

Their mole definitely was smooth, and certainly flavorful. So if that burned taste is intentional, could be that they're doing things well after all.

http://www.habeasbrulee.com
Sneakeater

Sneakeater

Posted
Posted

Ate here last night with h. du bois.

I, too, thought the mole (in my case Coloradito) tasted burnt. To an extent I didn't find in Oaxaca. So perhaps this isn't the Oaxacan restaurant of our dreams.

This is stepping on h.'s line, but one funny thing was that, as soon as we sat down, the waitress made it a point to rush over and inform us that they were out of rottisserie chicken. So imagine our surprise to learn that they were out of (or didn't have in the first place) just about everything else we ordered, as well. I wonder why she chose the chicken to emphasize.

(I understand opening-month jitters, and I also understand that perhaps the initial menu -- which I understand was still being tweaked -- was optimistic in terms of what they can actually procure. I relate that anecdote because I thought it was funny -- not really to criticize this restaurant.)

Eatmywords

Eatmywords

Posted
Posted
Ate here last night with h. du bois.

I, too, thought the mole (in my case Coloradito) tasted burnt.  To an extent I didn't find in Oaxaca.  So perhaps this isn't the Oaxacan restaurant of our dreams.

This is stepping on h.'s line, but one funny thing was that, as soon as we sat down, the waitress made it a point to rush over and inform us that they were out of rottisserie chicken.  So imagine our surprise to learn that they were out of (or didn't have in the first place) just about everything else we ordered, as well.  I wonder why she chose the chicken to emphasize.

(I understand opening-month jitters, and I also understand that perhaps the initial menu -- which I understand was still being tweaked -- was optimistic in terms of what they can actually procure.  I relate that anecdote because I thought it was funny -- not really to criticize this restaurant.)

So??? What did you have??

That wasn't chicken

Sneakeater

Sneakeater

Posted
Posted

"Quesadillas Antiquas", with Oaxacan cheese and -- not huitlacoche, which they didn't have -- stewed vegetables. They were the best thing we had.

Stewed pork with mole coloradito and rice and beans. As I said, I thought the mole tasted slightly burnt (in a way I didn't find in Oaxaca). The beans were very good -- nice and spicy. The tortillas were superior to what you'd expect. On the whole, it just wasn't that good, though.

I can see why Habeas Brulee thought the pork was too dry, but I was actually surprised by its quality compared to what you get in most cheap Mexican places.

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