Once a year, it’s nice to have a fancy meal, and this year’s was Claro, an extraordinary Oaxacan restaurant in Brooklyn. Upscale Mexican cuisine can be a mixed bag, but you can tell when a chef has a deep understanding of a cuisine, and that was certainly the case here.
The evening began with wonderful drinks. My partner got “le club,” a hibiscus drink with mezcal, while I had the “maquina verde”, a spicy mezcal drink with basil.
First up for food was a tuna tostada, an homage to a ceviche, although I don’t know that it was a ceviche proper. It packed a solid kick of spice from the Oaxacan smoked pasillas in the vinaigrette, which I took as a good sign for the evening.
Next was another tostada, this one with octopus. The sauce on this was noticeably sweet with caramelized tomato but had a sour note as well from the pickled onions. I don’t know how they cooked the octopus but it was by far the most tender octopus preparation I’ve ever had. Stunning.
The next course brought a wonderful mushroom dish, memela de santa sabrina. Also delicious, and with a deep umami from the mushrooms.
Our final dinner courses were both moles. First, a mole coloradito with shortribs. This was a milder, sweeter mole but with a lovely complexity.
The final course was a mole negro, which was spicier and more bitter, with a perfectly prepared duck breast. Mole negro is one of my favorite preparations in the world and this one did not disappoint.
For dessert, we couldn’t pass up the churros. The dipping caramel was lovely and salty and the churros themselves were perfectly fried.
And to finish, could any birthday cake possibly be better than a mole cake? I think not.
Claro
284 3rd Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11215