Hecho en Mexico

Flavors from Oaxaca in a strip-mall setting

By Mike Sutter
AMERICAN-STATESMAN RESTAURANT CRITIC
Thursday, July 02, 2009

As much as I like cheap Tex-Mex places, it's nice to have options for moderately priced interior Mexican cooking, too. Hecho en Mexico (`made in Mexico') is one of those options, even if the operation seems like it's still working out some new-restaurant jitters six months after opening.

Our first impressions were good, despite the strip-mall setting along William Cannon Drive near Escarpment Boulevard (the former home of Giss's Cafe). One wall of the big dining room is painted dusky red, another a rich green, lined with framed art photos of Mexico. And it was cool inside, crisp even, something we'd learn to see as a mixed blessing as the heat fled from our food too fast and the kids shivered through dessert. The menu is full of mysteries and surprises: mole poblano, mole blanco, chile morita sauce, ceviche, the fact that kids' plates are only $2 on Mondays and Tuesdays. Our waiter explained that much of the food is inspired by recipes from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, famous for seven kinds of mole, a complex sauce that might include ancho, guajillo or cascabel chiles (or all three, plus some), cinnamon, cloves, pineapple, raisins, chocolate - the variations are as rich as the culture.

The sauce played key roles in two dishes, one made with thick slices of pork, like rib meat without the bones, and a deep red sauce rich with the harvest perfume of cinnamon, sweet potato, pineapple and plantains (Mancha Manteles, $14.50). Thick and sweet, the sauce also had a sharp, spicy back note. The mole poblano on another dish was dark brown, earthy and not as sweet or aromatically spiced, but it played the perfect partner with chicken enchiladas ($12). I just wish there had been more of it; the sauce clung to the tortilla like castaways on a lifeboat, with none to rescue the side serving of dry, tan rice shot through with undercooked grains. That same rice showed up to ruin the party for a few more dishes, too.

We liked the fiery spice of the Camarones a la Diabla ($14.50), medium-sized shrimp robed with thick, red sauce with a flavor bordering on Italian, textured with whole chiles moritas the size and consistency of baby plums. The thing that bothered me in this dish, like it does in so many saucy shrimp preparations, is that the tails were left on, forcing me to dip my fingers into the fray to pull the tails off. I suppose you could cut them off with your fork, but you'd still be left to pile them to the side.

Dinner started on a few uneventful notes. A simple ceviche ($7) combined lime, chopped peppers, onions and tomato, all of which turned the tiny shrimp and unremarkable white fish into nothing more than rubbery texture notes. With fresh-fried tortilla chips and avocado slices, it reminded me of ceviche at an all-inclusive budget resort. The Monterey jack cheese in the Queso Flameado ($7) was dense and flavorful, but oddly the chorizo in it was not. But our spoons clashed like swords over the Caldo Tlalpeño ($6.50 for a bowl), a nicely salted, slightly spicy red chicken broth rolling with firm garbanzo beans, shredded chicken and avocado chunks.

Waiting for food at Hecho en Mexico was a lesson in how service could succeed and fail at the same time. You couldn't find a waiter with more knowledge of the menu or one more graceful helping us find dishes the kids would like. Trouble is, sometimes you couldn't find him at all. Our guy would vanish into the kitchen, and we wondered whether he was having to expedite plates or even whether he was doing some of the cooking himself. How else did he have such deep knowledge of the moles and spices and preparations? There were long waits between courses, water glasses sat empty and empty dishes piled up on the table.

We should have skipped the 20 minutes it took to order and receive dessert, but I was determined to try the tres leches cake ($7). It was a disappointingly stiff and crumbling two-layer version, with plenty of sweet cream sauce but nothing to soak it up. My family gave up on waiting for the check and left me inside to stand at the bar until our waiter came out of the kitchen and took another table's order before noticing me. It was neglect, but at least it was benign neglect, the kind that comes from too few people trying to do too much on one night. At least I hope so. Because six months is more than enough time to get your act together.

msutter@statesman.com; 912-5902

Hecho en Mexico

6001 W. William Cannon Drive, No. 301. 301-0058, www.hechoenmexico-restaurant.com

Rating (casual dining): 6.1 out of 10

Hours: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily

Prices: Breakfast: $5.50 (fried eggs with ranchero sauce) to $7 (scrambled eggs with shredded beef). Lunch: $6 (spinach enchiladas) to $9 (cochinita pibil). Dinner: starters $5-$11, soups and salads $4.25-$13, taco and burrito plates $5-$9.50, main courses $10.50-$14.50. Desserts $6-$7.

Payment: All major cards

Bar: Full bar, with more than 50 kinds of tequila, 10 modest wines and 15 bottled beers, including Mexican brands such as Pacifico Clara, Carta Blanca, Dos Equis and Negra Modelo.

Wheelchair access: Yes

What the rating means: The average of weighted scores for food, service, atmosphere and value.