The Aerie
The chicken mole (pollo con mole) had to be yesterday's high point.
Our host drove us 20 miles out from downtown El Paso to this obscure
little restaurant about half a mile off the interstate. It was
decorated in classic "70's Spanish" stile, with the pulled stucco
walls, Mexican bric-a-brac, and license plates from all over the U.S.
Perfect. Just the kind of "insider" place you want to know about.
The proprietor greeted our host by first name in Spanish and showed us
to a nondescript brown linoleum table. The iced tea was fine, and the
guacamole showed up in minutes. And what guacamole! So fresh it
tingled on the tongue, so tasty it made you think of springtime.
Then our orders arrived. My Chicken Mole was served in a manner I had
never seen before -- a whole split chicken breast in a bowl of sauce,
with black beans, shredded lettuce and tomatoes, and rice and
vegetables on the sides. A plate of tortillas showed up next, hot off
the griddle.
What can I say? The mole was rich and sweet and hot, the black beans
superb and piping. I tore up some chicken with my fork, soaked it in
the mole sauce, an wrapped it in a tortilla with some black bean paste
and rice and lettuce. Heaven!
The portions were immense. I couldn't finish my whole plate, and ended
up skipping dinner -- I was still sated six hours later!
The meal passed all too quickly, and unfortunately one of my
companions wasn't feeling well and hardly touched his plate. Looks
like a touch of the flu, and we're sure hoping we don't catch it too!
The weather is holding -- our host is nervous that a springtime dust
storm will come in before we can leave. I'm just hoping I can get back
to that restaurant for lunch first!
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Posted by Albatross at April 2, 2003 12:00 AM