DC Restaurant Review: Oyamel

Named a 2007 best New Restaurant by Esquire and part of the Jose Andres family of hip eaters (Jaleo, Cafe Atlantico). What kind of food does Oyamel serve? What are antojitos? Drawing on pre-Hispanic, colonial and modern traditions, Oyamel’s menu reflects rich culinary heritage combined with current urban fare of Mexico City. Antojitos are traditional Mexican snacks or small plates.

I was very excited to go especially since it was Dios de la Muertos. I miss you dad. In honor of the dead, i will add a dad story. My dad's cooking skills went to corned beef and rice, vienna sausages and rice, or spam and rice. Too some this maybe gross but these were some of the best meals of my life. he made the spam thick, he over cooked the vienna sausages, and the corned beef had so many onions in it you could scare the dead. All of those fun meats on streamy hot rice. Yummers. In high school when mom was wokring he would sometime bring home dinner, a couple of slices of pizza. It wasnt a whole pie but four slice for me and him. it always made me laugh.

Onto the review, on tap for our dinner was a variety of menu items:

A tasting plate of 7 different Oaxca mole sauces with seared duck breast, steak, blackbeans and smoked chicken- Now, I've had mole sauce twice. First was in GG office and it was made by this mexican women and it was awsome the chocolate and coffee flavors exploded in my mouth. The second time was for Browsers Birthday when we went to a mexican joint in HoCo. That meal wasnt really memorable. But this 7 tasters mole plate was too overwhelming. Too many sauces and too many meats...I believe it is the job of the chef to pair the sauce and the meat. if you want to give us a taste of all the moles from a region do it right. I was confused and dipping meats in all the sauces trying to figure out which one i liked the best to no avail.

Sopes con plovo de chicharron-Traditional corn flour cake topped with ground deep-fried pork rind and housemade guacamole- The flour cake was crunchy, the pork rinds (my favorite) was overwhelming and too reminiscient of pancit bihon toppings, and the guacamole had a kick that made my mouth a scorched surface.

Chilaquiles con salsa de tomatillo, queso y cilantro- Fresh hand-made tortilla chips with melted Chihuahua and Oaxaca cheese, green tomatillo salsa, cilantro and red onion- So basically this was nachos, but i loved it, i love corn tortillas. It really is the only way to go. It was cheesy and familiar...wow that makes me a little boring.

Quesadilla huitlacoche- Traditional folded corn tortilla with oaxaca cheese and black Mexican truffle. After reading the description I found myslef to be very skeptical. A quesadilla with korn and a mushroom inside. tasty and a flavor combination that I am not use to and was surprised by, a definte highlight of the meal.

Papas al mole- José Andrés’ favorite fried potatoes in a mole poblano sauce of almonds, chilis and a touch of chocolate, topped with Mexican cream and aged cotija cheese- Fries and mole sauce with a hint of sour cream- killer.

Carnitas con salsa de tomatillo-Confit of baby pig with green tomatillo sauce, pork rinds, onions and cilantro. This was an overstuffed taco and by the fact that it was overstuffed took away from a tasty taco. the meat was tender, and the tomitillo sauce and pork rinds were tasty, but the portion size out stripped the flavors.

Looking back the food was mediocre and a bit disappointing. Did i let the hype get to me? I did have some new and different flavor combinations which makes me want to go back. This place has to have something more to it. I am going to go back and I want to bring my brother.