The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
LOS CHARROS
the northern region with cattle and grain, steaks and burritos and flour tortillas — but most of the country isn’t cattle country, the majority of the population lives in the other six regions, so many different food cultures!”
The different salsas are examples either cooked-into or able to be added to your food to explore the flavors: smoky spicy Ancho marinade from Baijia; Tijuana roasted salsa rojo and moles from Oaxaca; Mexico City-style guacamole, which confoundingly contains peas, and is topped with hulled pumpkin seeds.
Chef’s favorite is the chicken adobado taco, served with chunks of cleanly spiced thigh meat, cotija cheese, green onion, and strips of radish. (As strong a signal as I’ve found that someone learned cooking in an actual Mexican kitchen. Keep an eye out for radishes.)
Having a Mexican uncle started an ongoing series of critiques of Taylor’s food.
“The last time, he told me my birria tacos are good, but that’s not birria,” says the chef of his uncle’s review. “He told me birria tacos are made with flour tortillas in Mexico, and I thought that makes so much sense because the flour does so much more to absorb the consumé.”
As a result, the birria tacos at Los Charros arrive almost pumpkin orange with the spiced beef consumé , crisp and blistered, with all the juices inside until you cut in. A ramekin of the consumé itself suitable for dipping or pouring arrives on the side. They’re delicious, despite Colt’s complete rejection of one piece of his uncle’s advice.
“He also said they’re only made with meat and a
tortilla in his village, no cheese,” he laughs. “I said no way, I like cheese.”
I was particularly impressed by the mole coloradito — a dark brown sauce whose name literally
means “staining.” Taylor uses this on his enchiladas, but I’m a mole freak and tried it on its own, catching a huge bouquet of sweet, smokey texture, lively with spicy heat. He says they use
chipotle, cascabel, d’arbol — a marriage of dried chilis — and blend new batches with starters of the previous one, like making balsamic vinegar. It’s easily one of the top two best I’ve had in the state.
“Mole to me is the main course,” says Taylor. “Whatever you put in it — chicken, whatever — that’s the garnish.” I couldn’t agree more.
Brunch is an option at the new location starting this year, and will include drink specials, huevos rancheros, migas, and one of my all-time favorite hangover foods: chilaquiles, made with chips braised in stock, cotija, the house salsa verde, and a fried egg.
“I decided if I was going to make the food of another culture, I was going to research the heck out of it with ultimate respect. We put quality above everything, in every ingredient,” he sums up, tipping a glass. “And we make strong margaritas.”