John B.
Yelp
I am not a huge mole person, but I wondered if that was just because I've not had it done right. Or because this sauce is usually offered with non-vegetarian meals. This restaurant offered a potential solution to both issues, so I figured I'd give it a try. The neighborhood is quite cramped, and the restaurant itself has a smallish feel with only one bathroom. It was busy on a warm summer evening, but the only question was whether I would get a table outdoors or in. Indoors, it turned out.
Their menu is mostly based around mole but does have a few other flavors, and most of them are available "no carne". Unlike a lot of Mexican food, the cuisine here was not built around dairy at all; some menu items listed a dusting of cheese on top but this was a place that was used to handling special dietary needs and it would not be hard to get a satisfying vegan meal here. Even though I'm not a cauliflower person, I still had enough choices that I had to think, and ended up settling on a black mole with corn cakes, green beans, and avocado. This freed me up to get a mushroom empanada as an appetizer. The empanada was flaky to the extreme and I was surprised it was only one, but the flavors were interesting and I appreciated the local mushrooms. The main attraction was more impressive. The sauce had a hint of chocolate, but it wasn't weird or overwhelming, and spicy, nutty flavors shone through, which worked very well with the corn cakes. It was the kind of thing that makes you think about licking the plate. A pomegranate agua fresca was sparkly and delivered a flavor kick. Not seeing a ton of dessert options open in Charlottesville, I went for a mango berry coconut dessert which had nice fresh berries but oddly not quite as much of a mango flavor as I'd hoped.
It's on the pricey side for a casual restaurant, but the cuisine was both redolent of another culture but also distinctively local, and worth coming for.