On the day that we lunched at Sinaloese Pollo Asados, the folks at the table next to us were talking about a new restaurant that had opened on Peachtree Industrial, Oaxaca.  They told us it was the sibling restaurant of Duluth’s Mixteca, which I adore – who I believe have the best tamales in the city, so I was excited to try it.  This afternoon, we were heading home from Peachtree Corners and this restaurant, just south of Chamblee-Dunwoody was chosen as our dinner spot.  We started with their appetizer of tostadas criollas (thin crispy tortillas / flatbreads), with a trio of their salsas – salsa verde cruda (tomatillo based), creamy avocado (smooth and cooling) and fire roasted tomato (this is where they stored the heat.  It was a sneaky heat that appeared, after each bite).  I really liked the fire roasted tomato salsa.

The server asked if we wanted anything else with our entrees, and I said if they were owned by the same folks as Mixteca, I’d take their refried beans.  He seemed offended that I asked for refried beans, and he explained their daily sourcing from Oaxaca of corn and other items and that they were more “upscale”.   For what it’s worth, he didn’t have to tell me that they were “upscale” – the $8.00 steak or fish street tacos expressed their opinion of their food clearly…

My lovely wife chose the flounder taco, 

which was served with cabbage slaw and lime.  The fish was well seasoned and very tasty.  To go with the street taco she chose the flor de calabaza quesadilla, a quesadilla filled with squash blossom, Oaxaca cheese, sautéed mushrooms, roasted onions and served with a couple of the sauces we had with the appetizer.

This dish was fairly bland and the oaxaca cheese formed more of a sheet against the top of the quesadilla than becoming gooey and part of the filling.  I ordered the green mole pipan – a braised wagyu (they had me at wagyu) short rib, dish – served with hand-made tortillas. I asked if the mole was chocolate-forward, and the waiter explained (he liked explaining) that if you could taste the chocolate, it was not a good mole and their mole did not taste of chocolate.

He was right – there was no chocolate taste, which was a big win.   And the short rib was fork tender.  This was a great dish and the (five) tortillas were hot from the kitchen.  I made little (non-fried) taquitos, filling the tortillas with the short rib, then dragging the taquito through the sauce left in the bowl. 

In researching, they are not affiliated with Mixteca, but rather are a collaboration between the owners of Oaxaca Tacos & Tequila Bar in Lawrenceville and El Valle in Midtown.  I’ve been to neither of those, so I can’t comment on them, but this restaurant seemed more interested in atmosphere than food, from my POV.