What: Pacific Mexican shrimp enchiladas
Where: Mole Ingenious Mexican Kitchen, 73130 El Paseo, Suite M, Palm Desert
How much: $28
Contact: 760-636-1269; molekitchen.com/palm-desert
Why: The sauce.
When I saw Mole’s logo, I rolled my eyes. The tag line: “Ingenious Mexican Kitchen.”
Really? Ingenious? It was going to take one hell of a meal for Mole to back up that brag.
The good news is, for the most part, the meal was fantastic.
The second Mole location opened in the Shops on El Paseo in late 2022; the first is in Sedona, Ariz. The vibe is hip, urban, upscale Mexican. The cocktail menu is fun, with an emphasis on margaritas—and their old fashioned ($17), one of the “house specialties,” is worthy of an endorsement within an endorsement. Many of the food offerings have some sort of unusual twist, such as the “Guaca-Crab ‘Jaracho’” ($22)—fresh guacamole topped with warm lump crab, mango and plantain chips.
Considering the restaurant’s name, I felt the need to order, well, mole, so I got the mole con pollo asado enchiladas ($26) as my main course. With Oaxaca dark mole, grilled chicken, sesame seeds, toasted nuts and raisins, it was quite tasty—but it was my husband’s selection that made the meal truly special.
The Pacific Mexican shrimp enchiladas ($28) featured nice-sized, perfectly cooked shrimp, marinated in adobo, but the star of the dish was the tomatillo sauce. While some tomatillo sauces can be overly acidic, this one was actually smooth, slightly smoky and packed with flavor; it served as the perfect complement to the shrimp. The addition of pepitas gave the dish a nice texture. Our only complaint was that when the two smallish enchiladas were finished, we were left wanting more.
Was our meal “ingenuous”? No—but it was delicious enough that we’re already making plans to go back.
