Our second night in Houston brought me back to XOCHI in the Marriott Marquis where I had first visited just over 2 years ago and fell in love with the traditional Mexican cuisine with elegant takes. The menu has been paired down, but they still have a Margarita menu, a mole menu and the best wine list I have ever seen in the USA for Mexican wines.
The standard maragrita is great and the Houston Stron is nice too made with Olmeca Altos Tequila, Combier, Aperol and lime. Our friend had the Age of Oaxaca (Mezcal Old Fashioned) made with mezcal & bourbon, Peychaud bitters, charred tortilla agave nectar, muddled orange and cherry and was declared nice and warm and smooth on a very chilly night here in the south.
The Guacamole is great and comes with Tostadas that are large crispy versions about 4" round that you break up and then dip; a bit thicker than usual and very tasty.
We ordered three starters to share and all were superb from the Yelllowfin Ceviche special to the Ostiones di Lujo(as always photos on FB) where huge oysters are wood-roasted and then topped with mole amarillo, cotija cheese and bread crumbs; think Oysters Rockefeller south of the border. The Hongos en Mole Amarillo were fabulous and earthy with a ton of wild mushrooms, masa dumplings, green beans and again that delicious yellow mole.
Our white wine was a yummy Casa Magoni 2020 Chardonnay-Vermintino blend from Baja and the red was a superb(if pricy) 2015 Santo Tomas "Unico" Cabernet-Merlot blend which is usually one of the best red wines in Mexico, although perhaps the 2015 is bit less exciting. The wines did come a bit chilly and the white warmed up nicely and the red needed decanting to give it a chance to rise to room temperature. Our server was most accommodating in that we ordered each course as we proceeded rather than at the beginning, giving us plenty of time to enjoy, chat and just relax.
The portions are large as expected and we tried three mains from the Callo de Hacha: huge sea scallops in mole verde with white beans, green beans, chayote squash and masa dumplings; Cordoniz which I had last time made with large bacon wrapped quails with mushrooms, corn bread (made with poleo giving it a hint of mint) and mole almendrado(almond); the Enchiladas of the day were made with yummy brisket and we added some tasty roasted Cauliflower with Chintextle.
I love the food here as it has amazing spices and they are not afraid to make the food so flavorful that your mouth feels like it's on vacation south of the border.
We shared the Helados de Elote which I had last time and loved, but it was a bit odd this time around with a Texas blue corn whiskey ice cream which is great and the slightly weird corn custard ice cream shaped like little corn cobs and corn cookies. It was nice and refreshing, but next time around, I want to try something different.
Great meal with a friend I had not seen in 9 years made it even better.
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