2 years of living in Mexico and numerous visits before, I’d never tasted Mole sauce! Not even in the States! And it seems to have a rather popular place on the grocer’s shelf.

According to the Allrecipes website; This authentic mole sauce is made with hot chiles, rich chocolate, spices, and tomatillos for a delicious topping on enchiladas and stewed meats.

While just on a walk around Playa del Carmen, away from the tourist area where the locals live and I realized, it’s almost noon. Time for lunch.

(As you can see, I’m wearing my hair somewhat shorter than I usually do (ala David Gilmore). Makes me look older. But the remedy is it is growing back. Just not enough for this trip.)

And as luck would have it we stumbled across a stretch of about 6 mom & pop cocinas (eateries). The hard part was deciding…Which one?

Browsing thru their menu boards the decision is made…Enchiladas with Mole sauce, 70 pesos $3.75 and includes rice (not that yellow colored stuff), there was 6 enchiladas under the mole sauce topped with onions, cheese and creme.

Looked like this!

Also of note is that the tortillas are made locally and fresh. Add a bottle of water and I spent less than $5 American and waddled off to the condo for a siesta. Ugh… It was a rather long walk. On the walk back to the condo I discovered another place to eat, that the burritos were 2/3 the price of places on 5th Avenue (tourist trap)…around the corner from that was a bar at a small hotel that was selling Modelo Draft Beer for 40 pesos!! ($2.15!!!) But, it was too early for that and I was preoccupied with meeting up with my designated siesta at the condo.

But back to the Mole sauce.

To put it simple, it was different. A little bit more to say would be that it had the most unusual taste I’d ever encountered! I kept asking myself, “Who eats chocolate sauce with enchiladas?”

The only way I can explain this episode with this challenging and engaging flavor was that I did it with wreckless abandon! I was determined that no matter how it taste, I was gonna make a ‘happy plate’. ‘Happy Plate’ is finishing it all!!! And I did. It never once tasted like something I’d give up on, but I definitely wasn’t accustomed to the chocolate flavor on a Mexican dish. I could have done without the thickness perhaps. But, it is what it is and it was what it was.

I’m gonna do this again. I’m gonna try it over a different entree, perhaps something a tad smaller in portion size.

There you have it! Something different. Without any judgement, I just did it. By the way, the enchilada plate comes with the choice of 4 different toppings. I found this curious and humorous, one of the choices was ‘Divorciadas’. It took me a while to think this thru. It simply means with no sauce.

Give it a try…not the divorce, the mole!!!

Peace, love, and beaches,

John