GREAT EATS HAWAII: OYAMEL COCINA MEXICANA

OYAMEL COCINA MEXICAN

WASHINGTON, DC

Our Frommer's Guide listed Oyamel as the best Mexican restaurant in Washington, DC. Given this, I had to give it a try. Cannot tell you if it is really the best because it is the only Mexican food we ate while in DC. I can tell you however that it was great. We started with fresh guacamole that is made by the waitress right at your table ($13). Avocado, green tomatillo, serrano chili, crumbled queso fresco cheese served with a basket of warm home made tortilla chips. The guacamole was delicious. Rich and buttery with a kick of heat from the serrano chili's. We followed this up with a shrimp, crab, avocado, red onion and tomato ceviche tostada ($8). This too was delicious. We went nuts with the tacos. They are very small hand made tortillas filled with a variety of different meats and fish. They run $3.50 to $4.00 per taco. This is kind of expensive for just a few bites, but the flavors were fantastic. We enjoyed the Grilled Marinated Chicken, Shredded Beefe braised in a rich and tangy sauce of pasilla and guajillo chiles, Seared Fish, Yucatan-style BBQ Pork, Stew of shredded chicken with potatoes, chorizo and chipotle and probably some others I forgot. We also tried the grilled lamb chops ($11) and grilled skirt steak ($9). When you take the grilled steak and mix it with the Oyamel Frijoles Refritos Con Queso ($6.50) (refried beans with melted Chilhuanhua cheese inside with Mexican cream and cilantro) you have a super tasty steak taco that was the bomb. The refried beans here were the best I have ever had. Could have ate three orders of them. This was really good Mexican food but the bill with a few cocktails came up to $100. A bit high for tacos I think.