RW Madness: Oyamel
Restaurant Week at Oyamel is a loud, crowded, and chaotic affair. On Tuesday night, the tables were full and the waitstaff already looked haggard at 7 p.m. Our waitress's explanation of the Restaurant Week menu was barely audible over the din; luckily, the instructions are also printed at the top of the menu. For $35.08, diners can choose three "antojito" (Mexican-style tapas) courses, one taco, and dessert. The selection is decent - each antojito course has four options, plus four types of tacos and two desserts.
Oyamel has several ceviche dishes on the regular menu, so we thought it wise to order the salmon ceviche, along with the "'Gaspacho estilo Morelia" salad for our first course. The salmon came dressed in a vinaigrette of mezcal and tossed with chilies, cilantro, and cucumbers. Also, see that foamy stuff in the picture? That's "mezcal air," a nod to the current molecular gastronomy trend. While I was initially gleeful at the prospect of eating "air", it turns out that air doesn't really have much flavor, be it the regular or mezcal variety. In the end, the ceviche tasted a little one-dimensional, save the occasional pop of heat from the diced chili pieces.
The gazpacho was even more confounding. It is a salad of diced jicama, mango, watermelon, and cucumber. When the salad arrived, our waiter squeezed some Mexican sour orange juice over the top. Unfortunately, it was remarkably similar to regular orange juice. Mostly, the gazpacho tasted like a fruit salad that was inexplicably sprinkled with the tiniest shavings of queso fresco. Had the pieces of cheese been bigger, or the orange juice actually tart, the flavor combination might have risen to something more exciting.
The second and third courses were a marked improvement over the first. Oyamel's scallops were perfectly seared and contrasted nicely with a nutty pumpkin sauce and toasted pumpkin seeds. But the scallops themselves were slightly over salted. Plantain fries were forgettable, save the excellent salsa verde dipping sauce. Bright cilantro, chili, and acidity from the tomatillos were a nice foil for the plantains' sweetness. The salsa verde made another appearance at our table in our third course, this time on the chicken tamale. The tamale is one of the standouts of the meal, perfectly marrying sweet, salty, and acidity.
The black bean soup (Sopa Tarasca estilo pátzcuaro) was another highlight. The soup is dotted with cream and served with a sliced avocado, tortilla strips, and a huge toasted ancho chili. Each mouthful of soup is a complex flavor study as the smokiness of the beans and richness of the cream mingle with buttery avocado, crunchy corn tortilla, and chewy ancho chili. The chili is the best part of the soup; with each mastication, new flavors reveal themselves: burnt toast, dried fruit, and hints of sun dried tomato.
Oyamel's tacos are a bit on the small side - three or four bites, but by this point in the meal, we were full enough to not care. Braised beef tongue (lengua quisada) has a deep meaty flavor and wasn't the least bit rubbery. However, its only accompaniment was a few slivers of radish. The barbecued pork was definitely the better of the two. It was smoky, juicy, and topped with pickled onions for a nice vinegary bite.
With so many courses, service was a bit of an issue at Oyamel. Initially, the dishes arrived quickly, but after three or four, the wait between each dish began to grow. The tacos (fourth course) arrived before the tamale (third course), causing the waitress to bring us dessert before the tamale. Given the chaos of the dining room, it wasn't terribly surprising, and the tamale was worth the wait. And, not to get all Tom Sietsema here, but Oyamel was really loud, to the point where it was difficult to hear to the person across the table. But these problems could be alleviated by choosing to eat before or after the main 7 p.m. dinner rush, and by requesting to sit at a table in the more private back room of the restaurant. (We were seated at a window booth.)
Restaurant Week is a good opportunity to try a restaurant you might not normally frequent. Oyamel is not as good a deal as a place like PS 7's, where entrees alone are usually $30. Most tapas regularly run between $7 to $10, so dinner may not be much of a savings. However, Oyamel is offering the same menu for lunch, which is only $20.08. If you'd like to test the waters at Oyamel, try it for Restaurant Week lunch. The fixed price can help take the sting out of any so-so tapas, making it possible to enjoy the truly delightful ones.
Oyamel is extending their Restaurant Week menu until August 24.
Oyamel
401 7th Street NW
Washington, DC 20004
202-628-1005
Hours
Sunday - Monday, 11:30 a.m - 10:00 p.m.
Tuesday - Thursday, 11:30 a.m - 11:30 p.m.
Friday - Saturday, 11:30 a.m - Midnight