A few moments later, the chef reappears with a ramekin of something black and mysterious and invites us to guess what’s in the little bowl.
Having visited Oaxaca before, I think I know the answer. Sure enough, Solano wants us to complete our tlayuda with fried grasshoppers, expectedly crisp and jolted with lime.
Similar vignettes play out every time I’ve eaten at this charming storefront in Silver Spring, close to the Wheaton Metro stop and co-owned by the chef; Apolinar Cervantes, 47; and Marisol Gonzales, 52. The trio bring a lot of hospitality to the business. Solano previously cooked at the late and admired Mixtec and Enriqueta’s in Washington. Cervantes worked his way up from dishwasher to waiter at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse, where he spent 22 years, while Gonzales, a onetime hostess at a children’s party restaurant in her native Mexico City, works as a nanny when she’s not at the restaurant.
Day or night, I’ve never visited without seeing Cervantes. His quiet enthusiasm alone pulls me back. The host takes his time detailing the dishes, instructs diners which of the three housemade salsas are best for which presentations, and offers free refills of agua fresca. (One glass of tamarindo or pineapple juice with hints of peach is never enough.) The food is apportioned as if you’re eating at Madre’s house. “Any sauce you want to take?” asks the host as he bundles the inevitable leftovers. I like the mild green tomatillo and the racy red arbol salsas, but the sauce sprung from the smoky morita chile, recommended for the tlayuda, lights my fire.
The chef is from La Mixteca, one of eight regions in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, which explains the restaurant’s name and the sweetness of his mole. A sauce made primarily for celebrations, Mixteco mole is offered with sugar for guests to pass at the table, he says. At Taqueria Sabor Mixteco, the sauce is created from raisins, cinnamon and chocolate as well as almonds, oregano and dried peppers including guajillo and ancho. The inky black combination drapes the very good shredded chicken enchiladas, striped with white crema and shored up with tomato-tinted rice and (vegetarian) refried black beans redolent of the garlic and onions that “go into everything,” jokes the chef.
The chef left Washington for Mexico City in 2008 to run a taqueria for several years before returning to the States. How delicious to have him back. I appreciate whatever meat — zesty chorizo, earthy braised beef tongue, pork sweetened with pineapple — dresses his warm, saucer-size corn tortillas. The canvases — thin enough to fold, thick enough to hoist without tearing — pick up color and texture from cilantro, sliced radishes, sweet chopped onion and your salsa of choice, although a simple spritz of lime is plenty sassy.
Maybe you’re in the mood for a torta. Credit for the two-fisted pleasure goes to Gonzales, whose mother made and sold tortas and tacos to workers building Mexico City’s metro when Gonzales was a young girl. As with so much that leaves the kitchen, the taqueria excels with the sandwich. Fluffy-crumbed telera bread is sliced in half, toasted and slathered with creamy mayonnaise (on top) and black beans (on the base). A choice of filling — make mine flame-colored al pastor — plus shredded, slightly rubbery Oaxacan cheese and crisp lettuce truly elevate the slices and make for one of the best tortas I know.
One of the biggest comforts on a menu full of them is alambre, a rib-sticking collaboration of your choice of meat, onions and poblano peppers under a blanket of melted cheese. Those who like variety should ask for the juicy duo of braised beef and chorizo — and plan for a siesta afterward.
The list of daily specials might include one of the best chiles rellenos in memory. Fluffy egg clings to the velvet-textured poblano, which oozes warm cheese when it’s cut. A light sauce of tomato, onion and garlic burnishes the pepper. The one off note across several meals: chileajo, a Oaxacan pork stew from the chef’s hometown of Tezoatlán whose occasional bites of dry meat were partially salvaged by potato chunks swollen with the flavor of fruity costeno and guajillo peppers in the mix.
Gonzales whips up the flan, dense with cream cheese and scented with Mexican vanilla. Ask for a caramel-glossed slice to go if you’ve filled up on tacos, tortas or alambres. The dessert is a sight for sleepy eyes late at night: soothing nursery food no matter your age.
Color-drenched Oaxaca is channeled in a bright orange dining room where tables are covered in oil cloth and the ceiling is dressed with papel picado, Mexican paper cutouts. A few sombreros and upbeat chilena music complete the Mexican theme.
This cooking deserves something spirited to wash it back; the owners say they’ve applied for a license to sell alcohol. For the moment, if you ask about cocktails, the trio shows off ready-to-go jicaras, the small, shell-like cups used to serve mezcal.
The biggest problem I see? Too few diners. That might be music to the ears of people who don’t want to raise their voice at lunch or dinner but not to the owners, whose labor of love deserves to play to a larger audience. Frankly, I’d trade the quiet for some noise, even a line out the door. Hence this shout-out.
Taqueria Sabor Mixteco
2462 Ennalls Ave., Silver Spring. 240-500-3833. sabormixteco.com. Open for indoor and outdoor dining and delivery and takeout, 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Prices: Dinner appetizers $3 to $14.95, tacos $3.75 to $4.95, main courses $12 to $29.75. Sound check: 69 decibels/Conversation is easy. Accessibility: No barriers to entrance; ADA-compliant restroom.