bouquets of brilliance. one of the many things that ran through my mind while dining at mi mero mole this afternoon was, that it is sad; how low our expectations for mexican food have fallen since living in portland. this is a cuisine that should be as vibrant and festive as the culture that it comes from. yet, rarely is. reading reviews for the most lauded mexican restaurants in the rose city, i often feel like these people have no idea whatgoodmexican food even consists of. much less, tastes like. and while i have been to a couple places here that had moments of greatness (santeria, nuestra cocina) they still werent as 'all-encompassing' as the life affirming meal we had at mi mero mole today.
so whats their angle? a simple idea, based around stews (or guisados, en espanol), of which they rotate 4 meat, 4 veg and 1 seafood every day. for my first spin i thought the plato macho would serve me best. this comes with your choice of 2 guisados, rice, bean and tortillas. after some consideration i was drawn to the pollo en salsa verde and their cerdo en adobo. the señora, a much smaller version of me, asked them to populate her plato chico with tinga de calabacitas. when the first thing you see walking through the door (besides the lovely collection of tequila on the wall) is a girl pouring out batter to form, and then press, fresh corn tortillas, you begin to warm to an idea of what is to come. this is a 'order at the counter, grab what you need, seat yourself and bus your table' kind of affair. so we did all those things, scooping ourselves a cup of each of their 4 salsas and then patiently waiting for the goods to arrive.
the first thing that struck us was how vibrant and striking each different dish was. along with the salsas, it was like looking at a beautiful painting whose paint wasnt yet dry. this carried over into the flavor department, where each bite was like a song unto itself. its quite obvious that everything is made from scratch with only the finest of ingredients which are mixed and matched by some genius who should have his own church. i made a couple tacos with their marvelous tortillas but ditched this concept because i felt like i was throwing a blanket over the sun. from there on out it was bite after delectable bite by fork until i was only left with the gravies which i mopped up with the chips until those were gone and then i used my spoon until there was nothing left but the credits rolling across my tongue.
this must be what it is like when someone who has smoked for 20 years stops, and after a few days says "wow, i forgot that food can taste like this!" except that i dont smoke, ive just been suffering the work of amateurs for the last 2 years. my wife was riding the same wave as i was, though the heat in her guisado was kicking her ass. she sucked it up though. well, i dont know what else to say. our minds were blown, or awakened. cant really tell which yet. guess that means we'll have to come back next week and see if the next batch of choices live up to the memories of these.
grade: a ( i am tempted to add this to my favorites list right now, but have a rule that i need to try a place a minimum of 3 times before i do that. im sure its an inevitability though)