DISH OF THE WEEK: Enchiladas de Mole Poblano con Queso at EL ATORADERO BROOKLYN

Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City

SADLY, EL ATORADERO BROOKLYN IS NOW CLOSED.

There are certain restaurants that I try so hard to get to, but it takes longer than I hoped. The Brooklyn iteration of El Atoradero (which I visited up in the Bronx when Denisse Chavez was serving her carnitas from a modest bodega) is one of those restaurants.

It’s tucked away in Prospect Heights and originally they were only open for dinner except for the weekends when they open the back garden for brunch. That has changed as of this writing and now I could visit them just about any day for lunch, but I managed to already check it off my list on a weekend afternoon.

That’s not to say I won’t want to return on a Tuesday afternoon, for instance, because the Mexican food is excellent. The carnitas tacos are the runaway hit and the meaty, crisp pork chunks are heavenly. Expect to see them on my year Top 100 dishes.

But I was very excited that the waitstaff allowed me to order something off the dinner menu even though we were quite a few hours before the sun would begin to set. And that something ended up being richly flavored and incredibly hearty.

Enchiladas de Mole Poblano con Queso ended up being unconventional Instagram-bait. The dark sauce blanketing the enchiladas was not some trendy activated charcoal sauce, but rather a very traditional Oaxacan mole. If you’ve never tried the chocolate-laced topping, this would be a worthy introduction. The complex earthy sauce has the perfect amount of heat building up from a layer of subtle cocoa.

Underneath the mole, avocado garnish, and some beautiful ribbons of crema, were the tender enchilada tubes stuffed with a squeaky white cheese. I could have added chicken, but I was more than happy with the queso.

Good to know that these will be now available at a more convenient time for me (weekday lunch). I just wish that had been the case months ago and you might have been reading this post back then. Price: $18