La Morada

"By design, a visit to La Morada in Mott Haven takes you out of your boring daily routine: the restaurant with an activist heart and a selection of lick-the-plate-clean moles is only open on weekdays, until 5pm. It’s the perfect excuse to play hooky, or take a long lunch break on a work-from-home day. Have a seat in the canteen-like space and rifle through various pamphlets for causes they support, while digging into a hearty meal of Oaxacan classics, like chicken in a clove-heavy mole oaxaqueño, or daily specials, like albondigas stuffed with green olives. If your weeknight dinner routine needs a little shaking up too, take home some fresh tortillas and a container of mole poblano—it’s a great base for any protein you want to add in." - sonal shah, bryan kim, willa moore, will hartman, molly fitzpatrick, sonal shah, willa moore, molly fitzpatrick, sonal shah, will hartman, willa moore, bryan kim, will hartman, bryan kim, sonal shah, willa moore, sonal shah, will hartman, neha talreja, ne

"La Morada in Mott Haven looks like a community center, papered with flyers about various activist meetings. It functions more like a community kitchen, though, routinely serving free meals to immigrants, and affordable ones to anyone who walks in (Tues-Sat, 10am-5pm). Hearty Oaxacan classics, like chicken in a clove-heavy mole oaxaqueño, or daily specials, like albondigas stuffed with green olives, pair beautifully with their homemade tortillas. New Yorkers are good neighbors, and this place is the perfect example of that. Guacamole, chicken (dark meat) with mole poblano, molcajete" - molly fitzpatrick, willa moore, will hartman, bryan kim, sonal shah

"A Oaxacan restaurant and mutual aid hub in the South Bronx, run by Carolina Saavedra and her family, known for donating meals to refugees and being outspoken about being run by undocumented immigrants." - Jaya Saxena

"La Morada in Mott Haven is in one lavender room with the lighting scheme of a dental office. Plain decor aside, much like Donald Glover, the kitchen is good at pretty much everything. The tamales are like warm little pillows made of chicken and corn, and we’d gladly eat an entire meal of the crunchy gorditas. But the real reason you come here is the mole. Get the mole oaxaqueño. It’s a deep red color, and it’s possibly more complex than any equation currently being worked on by Nobel laureates." - willa moore, bryan kim, will hartman, neha talreja, carlo mantuano, sonal shah

"The Dish: Mole Poblano In a room painted with childlike irises and plastered with flyers from various activist groups, you’ll find some of the city’s best, boldest-flavored Mexican food. Everything a this Mott Haven spot is good, but La Morada particularly excels at moles—and the mildly spicy, gently chocolatey, clove-heavy poblano feels foundational. Get it with chicken, served with comforting rice and beans, and then get a tub to take home, so you can transform any boring weeknight protein into something wildly delicious. " - bryan kim, sonal shah, willa moore, will hartman, molly fitzpatrick, neha talreja