Syed Ashrafulla
Google
In a busy corner sits a new interior-coastal-hybrid Mexican place with the interesting concept of a "set meal" in which the main is your choice and the accompaniments are for enhancing that main.
The chicken enchiladas were stuffed with dry chicken. The sauce of choice was a sweet mole, which should pair well with chicken but only when that chicken is prepared fatty and spiced (think confit). That's not what happened here. The dish is simply too dry with a weird balance.
The birria was dry and stringy. My guess is the temperature was too high and the resulting meat dried out. Also the flavor was ok, fatty yes but that's it.
The esquites and the guacamole each suffered from a lack of interestingness. Elote should have a fun taste (tangy, spicy, something else) to go with the sweet corn and fatty cheese. I didn't detect any such taste. Same for the guacamole, which was plain avocado salt and pepper. In Oaxaca the guacamole I had was tart or peppery as a secondary taste, so I expect that from Mexican guacamole from now on. This was more American guacamole.
I do recommend the tlayuda, whose black bean paste did have depth of flavor and whose bread was both chewy and firm. Good work. The zucchini flowers added a great interior Mexican improvement.
Overall, I'd wait a few months because I think most of my issues with the dishes were due to execution. The kitchen was either slammed or not meeting the minimum. Meats have to be moister, especially in great Mexican cuisine. Balance and contrast afe my favorite parts of Mexican food and I didn't see that here. Maybe in a few months?