Rosa Mexicano, Washington, D.C.

A couple of months ago, one of my friends and I went to a place here in D.C. called Rosa Mexicano, near the MCI Center. I'd been looking forward to trying it, since the original Rosa Mexicano is in New York near Lincoln Center, and received rave reviews. It's a fancy place for a Mexican joint, with a no-longer working waterfall in the dining room (it sprang a leak and flooded a law office on the floor below, so the insurance company won't let them turn it back on) and white cloths on the tables. In addition to a full bar, they had a special tequila bar set up with all kinds of fancy and expensive tequilas. The menu was pretty fancy, too, with none of the down-home country favorites most people expect from Mexican restaurants.

Most entrees were in the $20- to $30-something price range. We were there mid-afternoon, so we just had several appetizers, since they are usually wonderfully tasty teasers of the kitchen's main offerings and really more than enough food for a pick-me-up. We had some queso fundido (melted white Mexican cheese with chorizo sausage and charred poblano peppers), some cornmeal masa empanadas stuffed with crab meat with some mango pico de gallo, some rather stale chicken flautas with sour cream and salsa verde, and a roasted duck quesadilla-like thing (it had another name which escapes me right now) covered with a hot, spicy, yellow sauce that didn't quite cover the dried out tortilla edges. Each of these appetizers cost between $8 and $12 each.

We also had their signature guacamole en molcajete, a fresh guacamole dip prepared tableside to order at a big cart that made the rounds of the dining room (a molcajete is a big mortar and pestle carved from volcanic rock). Guacamole for two was $14. It was interesting watching the guacamole being made. They used a lot of fresh cilantro, fresh diced onions, an assortment of dried spices, and fresh jalapeño peppers were split, cleaned, and diced in front of us. Our rather chatty waiter then selected a single avocado (just one avocado for the two of us!) and added it to the molcajete for blending. It tasted very good, what little there was.....