Beyond Tex-Mex -- way beyond
I've got a weakness for chiles poblanos. It could be worse, I suppose. I could have an inordinate fondness for cheap tequila. Unfortunately, the poblanos have the same effect on me that 99-cent margarita specials have on some people. They lure me into mediocre Tex-Mex restaurants where, before I know it, I've moved on to the hard stuff: combination plates laden with hard tacos, leaden enchiladas and mortar-like refried beans.
Lately, the growing number of taquerias in the area has made it easier to resist the siren call of the poblano. But when I got an e-mail from a reader singing the praises of the chiles poblanos at Sol Azteca, all resistance was broken. In no time, I was ensconced among the faux adobe brick walls of the dining room, scouring the menu for my quarry. It was easy to spot, set off by itself in a frame denoting it as a house specialty.
The dish lived up to its billing with two large poblano peppers encased in clouds of egg white batter and filled with molten white cheese which, when I cut into them, oozed out into a pool of red sauce, creating a swirl of creamy, complex spicy flavors.
Turns out chiles poblanos aren't the only reason to pay a visit to Sol Azteca. Though at first glance the menu looks like your typical Tex-Mex offering, heavy on combination plates and fajitas, a closer look turns up several pleasant surprises. Sprinkled among the nachos and chip dips under the appetizer heading, you'll find pepino (cucumbers sprinkled with salt, lemon and chile) and a hearty homemade Mexican chicken soup with avocado and pico de gallo.
Under the heading of Platillos Mexicanos, you'll find a number of authentic Mexican specialties. Moharra dorada, a whole deep-fried tilapia, is presented simply with tortillas and a small avocado salad, all the adornment the crisp-skinned fish needs.
An order of coctel Campechano produces a large footed goblet filled with shrimp, octopus and raw oysters -- all impeccably fresh -- in a Mexican "cocktail sauce" spangled with onion and cilantro. It's more like a chilled tomato-based soup, really, and is meant to be consumed in its entirety. That shouldn't be a problem, once you've adjusted the flavor to your liking with hot sauce and a few squeezes of lime.
Arroz con pollo (listed on the menu as A.C.P.), a Mexican chicken and rice dish topped with melted cheese, and its shrimp variation, arroz con camarones (A.C.C.), are among the restaurant's most popular offerings. I'm partial to camarones Azteca, a simpler dish that serves up a bounty of plump butterflied shrimp, sautéed with a dusting of chile powder.
The restaurant offers a more than respectable take on taqueria-style soft tacos, available with a choice of half a dozen meat filling options ranging from pollo asada to lengua. Tacos al pastor, featuring pork marinated in pineapple, onion and spices, are especially rewarding.
Carne asada, a favorite dish on both sides of the border, is ably represented here by thinly sliced rib-eye, grilled to a toothsome turn. Slices of fresh avocado are a pleasant addition to the usual accompaniments of rice, beans, lettuce, tomato, onions and flour tortillas. As I was to learn, the avocado garnish is common to many entree presentations at Sol Azteca. It's one of the details that, along with scratch-made sauces and a varied offering, set the restaurant apart from the Tex-Mex crowd.
Those details also mean that the food doesn't always come out of the kitchen as fast as at some Tex-Mex eateries, though I never encountered any undue waits. If you're in a hurry, I suppose you could order one of the 37 combination plates (including seven vegetarian combos). In my experience, those dishes get to your table at microwave speed at most Tex-Mex eateries. I couldn't say whether that's the case at Sol Azteca, though, not having ordered any combination plates. Chiles poblanos are as far down that road as I'm willing to go.
This story was originally published March 21, 2008 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Beyond Tex-Mex -- way beyond."