DINNER AT CASA OAXACA

We have read many reviews about a lot of different restaurants in Oaxaca. Sam has made a list of the restaurants that we should try. Last night we tried one of them, Casa Oaxaca.


Casa Oaxaca specializes in Oaxaquena cuisine. We started off with a bottle of wine from Argentina. It was a 2006 Salentein Malbec from the region of Mendoza. We did this in honor of our special friends from Argentina, Lourdes and Peteco. It was very good. The mesero (waiter) brought us an appetizer del la casa (on the house). It was Pollo y totopos con cebolla, semillas pomegranate, avocado, and queso fresco. Next, we shared a salad; it was a variety of baby lettuces with sesame seeds, slivered almonds, avocado, queso fresco, and the dressing was made from jamaica. Jamaica is a hibiscus flower.

Before we ordered we were asking a lot of questions. The next thing we know, the mesero was setting in front of us a small plate with some fried, chopped and seasoned chapulines. What are chapulines? Do you remember Jiminy Cricket? That’s right…they were fried grasshoppers and very tasty. We ate them with fried blue corn flour tortillas and salt.  They are a delicacy of this region of Mexico.

We were both going to have rack of lamb for our main course; however, we can have lamb in the States  anytime. So we decided to taste the local cuisine. We had Tacos de Pato con Coloradito y Frijoles Negros de la Olla. Here in Oaxaca, they have seven different moles. One for each region within the state…or as some may say, one for each day of the week. This mole is very similar to the mole negro we had at the house with chicken the other night. The main difference is the coloradito does not have chocolate. And pato is not chicken it is duck. The next dish we shared was Mole Verde con Lengua de Res. It was a thick sassy slice of veal tongue that was very flavorful and tender.

We didn’t have any dessert…no room! Thankfully we had a nice 15 minute walk home to aid our digestion! We love this country.