Sunday is Mole Night

Dinner this evening presented another chance to go out and check out the restaurants in the neighborhood. It appears that on Sunday evenings, the East 50s in Manhattan are pretty deserted, and restaurants are lucky to get any traffic at all. Plenty of opportunities for those of us who live in the area to have our pick of the tables, often with discount prices.

After mulling over the options, I decided on Zarela, which specializes in various Mexican regional cuisines including that of the title role chef's native Oaxaca. I had seen this place while week by previously and perused their web site enough to know that on weekdays they offer dinner and lunch prix fixe menus for $42 and $29.95. On Sunday evenings, though, they have a roughly similar (although possibly less elaborate) fixed offering for $19.95, which includes starter, entree, and choice of wine or dessert. Seems like a bargain. I could easily spend the same in Seattle on a burger and accompaniments at Red Robin.

So, after a brief look at the menu, I opted for the prix fixe, choosing the Ensalada Tropical and a braised chicken in mole that wasn't on the regular menu. The duck sounded like it would be really good (and I do have a fondness for duck), but my instincts told me that on a Sunday night with possibly the B-team in the kitchen, the daily special was the safer way to go.

While this is certainly not the typical red-sauce-and-cheese-blanket type of Mexican place, they still serve chips and salsa to immediately when you sit down, which were very good. The house special wine they brought me was a blanc de blanc, which was pretty good (I am no connoisseur, let me tell you). The tropical salad was very nice, with small slices of orange, julienned jicama and a light dressing; nothing too heavy, and crumbled queso anejo or similar sprinkled on top. This was counterbalanced by the chicken, which was definitely a comfort-food item. It was a half chicken in pieces (leg, thigh, breast cut in two), and was covered in a thick mole. It was accompanied by a side plate with a medley of zucchini, tomato, and garlic, and also a creamy white rice with chilis and corn kernels (and other things too, probably). In all quite a filling meal. It was the kind of thing I expected only to be able to eat half of, but before I knew it I had finished the whole thing.

Definitely a place to come back to. Next time I will try the duck. Also the chile rellenos I saw on the next table over.