When in doubt, try the special. Unless you will die if you don't have your enchiladas de mole rojo or your arrachera steak with melted Chihuahua cheese, you'll thank me for this piece of advice. It's how I discovered the wonderfull beer-steamed salmon sitting atop mashed potatoes zapped witrh serrano-rosemary butter, all served in a opulent pool of roasted garlic, cumin, and cream (the filet was so cute in its banana-leaf jacket that I didn't want to undress it). And it's how I came to try the eye-rollingly delicious chile en nogada, a roasted poblano stuffed with shredded duck confit, almonds, green olives, currants, walnuts, and cilantro and encircled by a walnut cream sauce giddy with wine. I know, I know; El Chile's regular Mexican dishes are so good it's hard to pass them by. But the chefs at this cheery bungalow, co-owner Kristine Kittrell and Jeff Martinez, are putting their heart and soul into the daily specials. Humor them.
What this brightly painted bungalow lacks in expensive trappings, it more than makes up for with first-rate Mexican food with an interior vibe. Alma's Tortilla Soup offers deep chile flavor, and the special of the day might be, if you're lucky, a roasted poblano creatively stuffed with moist duck confit studded with almonds, green olives, and walnuts, then encircled by a lush and winey walnut cream sauce.
El Chile has more than a taste of Jeffrey's. The mole
sauce on both the enchiladas and chicken is already
attracting a following at El Chile Cafe y Cantina,
1809 Manor Road. Located in a former coffee shop,
the 75-seat eatery is the realized dream of longtime
friends Orlando Sanchez and Carlos Rivero.
"We
both grew up in San Antonio and have been running
around together since we were 8 years old," says Sanchez, who left a Dell job to pursue this
venture. Rivero worked for Jeffrey's, one of Austin's
five-star restaurants,in the front of the house
for many years.
Perhaps
it is not a coincidence that the chefs at El Chile
are Jeff Martinez and Kristine Kittrell, former
sous chefs at Jeffrey's. And lest you think that
Jeffrey's chef de cuisine Alma Alcocer is feeling
abandoned, you should know that she gave them a
seal of approval by sharing her recipe for tortilla
soup with them. (They credit her on their menu.)
While
the menu is more interior Mexican than Tex-Mex,
you can still get nachos, quesadillas and fajitas.
