Restaurant Review: Casa Oaxaca

I have been on a quest since I moved to DC a few years ago to try out as many different restaurants in the city as I possibly can. Last night, a friend and I chose to have dinner at Casa Oaxaca, in Adams Morgan. The restaurant bills itself as "authentic Mexican cuisine," and the menu reflects it. There are not fajitas, or chimichangas, or any of the staples of Tex-Mex restaurants. Instead, a whole section of the menu was focused on mole. I'm not even going to pretend to understand what mole really is, so you can check out wikipedia if you're curious. Regardless, we were intrigued as to all the different types of mole the restaurant had to offer, so we asked the waiter for help. He very nicely brought out a plate of all the different mole sauces with some corn tortillas to dip. We sampled them all and quickly picked a few favorites. This was very helpful in deciphering the menu.

I chose the Mole Coloradito, which was beef served with a red mole sauce. It was really very good. The meat was cooked perfectly and sliced very thinly, and the sauce was really amazing. My friend chose to eat the mole poblano, which was a mole sauce served over chicken breast. It was very tasty, the chicken was not at all dry and the sauce was just the right amount of spiciness. Both meals were served with rice and black beans--making them a very good plate all around.

Overall we really enjoyed our dinner. The food was great and the service was equally good. Our waiter was very friendly and helpful and at one point, a man who seemed to be the manager stopped by to ask us how the meal was. We chatted with him for a few minutes about the restaurant and Mexican food. It was interesting to find out that they tweak their menu often, and will soon be re-adding grasshoppers to the menu. My dining companion was excited to return to try the grasshoppers, while I remain a bit unconvinced.

So, if you are looking for a different type of Mexican food, a change from the usual Tex-Mex stuff, I highly recommend Casa Oaxaca. It's a great place to go for a reasonably priced, very good dinner.