Review: Oyamel

Oyamel is absolutely the best Mexican restaurant in the DC metro area. I have eaten at many, many Mexican-style restaurants in DC and Virginia because I love authentic Mexican food that reminds me of my youth. I search for that wonderful taco platter with crispy, freshly made corn tortillas and shredded beef that I would order when I went out for dinner with my Aunt Jovita in Chihuahua. I hope and pray to find lobster, fish or shrimp tacos with finely shredded cabbage and spicy pico de gallo like my dad and I would eat at roadside shacks along Baja California. For me, corn husk wrapped tamales are a comfort food. Rich dark brown mole was a treat my mother would make, trying to prepare it just as she remembered from her youth growing up in northern Mexico.

I generally expect to find my "fix" at a small mom-and-pop type restaurant, the so called "hole in the wall." I will even drive over to the local nursery in the morning where a catering truck serves up delicious south-of-the border treats. But then I found Oyamel.

Oyamel captures all the authentic tastes of Mexico that I crave and packages them nouveau style. The fare is not tex-mex or Americanized, but refined Mexicana.

If it is your first time to Oyamel, you must start out with "real" guacamole that is mashed table side and mixed with cilantro, tomatoes, salt and red onions. It is perfect and served with thick corn chips that remind me of the corn chips I would be served on butcher paper in a basket in Tiajuana.

Next, if you love ceviche, Oyamel usually has five or six varieties on its menu and it even has a ceviche bar. I am not kidding! You can sit at the bar and watch the chef prepare all the creative dishes of ceviche. The most traditional ceviche is the ceviche huachinango, which is red snapper marinated in lime juice and mixed with avocado, tomato and cilantro. My favorite is the ceviche atun, which is tuna ceviche with a delicious cilantro sauce. The last time I was at Oyamel, I tried the salmon ceviche because I had never heard of or seen it made from salmon. It was delicious, but it was more of a salmon tartar with chopped vegetables and a sweet mild chili sauce.

If ceviche does not suite your palate, then the menu has several unique and delicious salads, such as the cool and tangy experimental baby cactus salad with lime dressing. My favorite is the "Gazpacho" estilo morelia. It is a sweet, spicy, crunchy and juicy combination of jicama, mango, cucumbers, jalapenos and Mexican oranges. The problem with Oyamel is that all three courses so far are delicious and hard to pass up, but you can be seriously full by now if you are not sharing. So you have some difficult choices ahead of you because Oyamel serves small plates ("tapa" style with selections of seafood, meat or vegetables), soups and an amazing array of single serving tacos, and we have not even discussed the entrees.

My advice? For dinner, exert self-control and jump right to the entrees. The seared red snapper served Veracruz-style or the braised short ribs in a mole pipian sauce of pumpkin seeds, green tomatillo, chili and cilantro are both are cooked to perfection! You will not be disappointed.

If it is lunch time, order a couple of the tacos and tapas. Stay away from the lunch time specials, which are way too Americanized for me (i.e., grilled catfish on a spicy bun, meatball sandwich with chipotle sauce, Cesar salad with seared salmon). The corn tortillas at Qyamel taste like the hand-made tortillas that I remember at home that were flattened and cooked individually over low heat on the stovetop. The tortillas are so good you could eat one by itself as a treat and each taco is made with these hand-made corn tortillas. The tinga poblana or pescado mexicano tacos are examples of taco art. The tinga poblana is stewed chicken, with chorizo (Mexican sausage), potatoes, chipolte (smoked red jalapenos) and red onions. Frankly, all the tacos are great. If you are brave, even try the lengua (beef tongue) taco or sautéed grasshoppers taco. I did!

I have not tried all the tapa-style plates, yet. But here are my recommendations: (1) steamed mussels with tequila (yum!); (2) braised short ribs are delicious, but even better as an evening entree; (3) pollo con mole poblano is a good sweet and light introduction to mole, but I like mine spicy and dark; (4) quesadilla huitlacoche, but try it first without the hot salsa verde it is served with or you will miss out on the subtle sweet and savory truffle flavor; (5) queso fundido con tequila (add the chorizo for an extra $1 for the full experience) and (6) pass on the papas con mole poblano, which seemed like a gimmicky play on chili cheese fries. Sorry I cannot describe these in fuller detail, but this review would go on forever.

I do, however, have two last notes. First, if you don't drink alcohol (like me) or are there at lunch maybe, Oyamel has great non-alcoholic drinks that add to the authentic Mexican experience. My favorite is the watermelon aqua fresca. For a very Mexican experience, also try the horchata or atole de maize. Second, Oyamel has a large variety of vegetarian dishes.

Buen Appetito!

Oyamel is located in the Penn Quarter
401 7th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004

Two blocks from the red line Gallery Place Chinatown Metro Station or the Archives/Navy Memorial exit on the green/yellow lines