East End Eats VIII: Xola

Xola is a Mexican restaurant so close to my house it's totally insane it took me five and a half years to finally try them. Luckily one of my dearest friends traveled a very long distance to visit me (during a pandemic no less) with the purpose of kicking me in the butt so we could try it.

It is not a cheap place. The prices are hefty, to be honest it's the type of restaurant I would only order from with at least one other person, ideally a few more. That's not just price, but because they have several appealing dishes that you would want to try as many of as you can (the avocado-grasshopper taco not on my particular list, FWIW). There's a communal intention here, where you want to order a bit of everything so to sample a taste of it all shared with other people.

Current circumstances make that idea difficult, of course. Nevertheless, my infinitely esteemed colleague and I attempted our best as a duo. For shared appetizers we ordered their guacamole sampler: one mixed with walnuts, blue cheese and well cooked chili peppers; another with bacon and smoked salmon; and the last (and best) with marinated jalapenos and goat cheese. Goat cheese makes everything better, obviously.

As for the main attraction, she went for the Cochinita (on the left), I went for the Adobo (on the right). Both of our orders came with a side of soft tortillas, sour cream, the pork with a pineapple salsa and mine with a smoother chipotle cream sauce. We sampled each other's orders (using our own separate forks to fight cross contamination etc) and well.. basically everything was incredibly delicious. The flavours weren't anything mind-melting, it's a familiar taste but done with exceptional competence and imagination. My beef dish, for instance, tasted like a tasty stew slow cooked and lovingly tenderized for hours over a stove. You can tell because the broth or accompanying juices are just as tasty as the meat itself, and put that into a tortilla with other top quality fixings... you've got a real winner.

Xola makes great food, but I suggest it (when things are somehow eventually better) with a group, so to share more of the tasty delights they have to offer. I wouldn't go by myself and order something because that doesn't quite seem worth it for what I would get. Not insulting the food (which is exceptional), I'm insulting the occasionally teenage level of my individual hunger.