Momocho

Last night Ryan and I went out to dinner with his brother and sister-in-law.  We wanted to take them somewhere in Ohio City (their first time there!), and we wanted to try something new ourselves as well.  Ryan suggested Momocho, a "Mod Mex" restaurant that's not smack dab in the middle of all the brewery restaurants like our usual spots. I remember looking at the menu online a while back, and since I'm not a guacamole fan I never pursued it further.

From reading reviews online, I was nervous about the wait on a Friday night.  Everything I said suggested making reservations well in advance, and when we called day-of, there were no reservations available for the night.  So when we walked in, I wasn't surprised to hear that the wait was over an hour.  We headed to a bar and started looking at the drink menu (happy hour traditional margarita, or full price fun flavored margarita, tough decision). Before the boys could even park the cars and join us girls at the bar, the owner came over and informed us that a table opened up upstairs.  Nice!

Ryan and I decided that we wanted to try some of the fun flavored margaritas, so the 3 option sampler for 15 bucks sounded like a great option.  We tried the cucumber with the chili lime salt rim, the blood orange with salt rim, and the hibiscus flower with sugar rim.  I was very pleased with all 3 flavors.  I tried to blood orange first and loved the flavor, not to citrusy sour, not too sweet. The cucumber was so smooth and refreshing, and I was even surprised that I didn't mind the chili rim. The hibiscus flower was the sweetest, I probably wouldn't drink more than one because of how sweet it is, but the sampler size glass of it was perfect.

Okay time for some appetizers, and time for Kate to get brave.  As I mentioned before, I am not a fan of guacamole.  I don't like the texture, I don't particularly like the taste of avocados, but when the group suggested trying the guac sampler as well, I agreed.  Besides, there were some flavor combinations that seemed very appealing.  We went for the traditional, the goat cheese, and the pineapple.  I didn't try the traditional guac, but I tried the other two and ... surprise, I liked them a lot! The goat cheese gave an extra bit of smoothness to the guac and added a mild goat cheese flavor that I love. The pineapple was my favorite because of the chunks of fruit and the sweetness! Be warned, the sampler gives you probably about 3x more guac than you actually need, we ended up taking home a lot of it!

For my main meal, I decided on the tamales after overhearing the server describing the dish to the table next to ours.  Unfortunately the tamales are not listed on the online menu so I can't remember everything that was in them, but I think they were braised short ribs, and I remember something about a mole sauce.  So helpful, I know.  Anyway... again, another delicious choice.  The meat was cooked well and was so tender, the sauce was perfect.  Just a tad of spice but definitely not too much. Ryan and the others got taquitos for their entrees and I had a bite of each.  Again, nothing disappointed.  The Mahi Mahi was cooked well (and I don't even like fish), the duck was okay (kind of salty, my first experience with duck), and the coffee braised beef brisket was fantastic.  I will probably get that the next time we visit!

Overall, I only have great things to say about my first visit to Momocho.  The server (I think his name was also Ryan) was very nice and knowledgable about the menu, and the owner both greeted us at the door and checked in on our meal. Love to see owner's really invested and involved!

Finally, we paid a visit to one of my favorite places on earth, Sweet Moses.  Although my dinner stomach was stuffed, there was enough room in my special dessert stomach for some peppermint ice cream.  Yes, I have a divided stomach.  We all do, whether you acknowledge it or not ;)