It was my aunt/cousin’s birthday the other day, and my family all decided to take her out for dinner.  Fortunately, instead of the usual excursion to Tamarind Bay, we finally went to Olé Mexican Grill in Inman Square.  Olé has actually been one of my favorite Mexican restaurants not only in Boston, but probably in all of the USA (sorry Southwest).  I have not been to Mexico, outside of a stint that I spent on a trip to San Antonio when I was a kid, so I can’t speak to the authenticity of the restaurant, but I will say it is a great place to get upscale Mexican food.

A quaint cooksmanship trick that Olé has is tableside salsa or guacamole synthesis.  However, the restaurant is often so busy that the preparation is rarely tableside.  Also, it used to be that you could custom make your salsa or guacamole (including more chiles, less garlic, etc.), but now all you get is a homogenized salsa or guacamole that is admittedly freshly made.   

While the guacamole is very tasty, the salsa is nothing spectacular.  It has a little too much chipotle for my liking.  It’s almost as if everyone in the world is cramming chipotle into things, and frankly I grow weary of this meme.  Nevertheless, if I had the option of regulating the ingredient distribution, I would definitely suggest less chipotle.  But again, this is pure cooksmanship, so the tableside salsa is all show and no substance.

The quesadilla mexicana is unlike any other quesadilla I have ever had.  Instead of being a giant tortilla-version of a grilled cheese, it is four bite-sized deep fried masa pockets stuffed with black beans or poblano peppers, crema, and grated cotija cheese.  Very subtle yet flavorful appetizer.

The ejotes al achiote are haricot verts (green beans) with tomatoes, seasoned with cinnamon, oregano, and achiote paste.  These beans were very tasty with the pickled onions and unmentioned garlic pieces providing much of the flavor.  The cinnamon, oregano and achiote paste were very subtle in flavor.

Crepes with huitlacoche, shiitaki mushrooms and epazote on poblano-cream sauce.  This is probably my favorite appetizer, although it is a little on the heavier side of the appetizer spectrum.  Like a very creamy and rich enchilada.

Baked chilaquiles “lasagna” with spinach, grilled corn, chile poblanos, mushrooms and cheese on creamy corn puree.  I thought the crepes were rich, but this was on a whole other level.  Imagine drinking corn flavored cream, and you wouldn’t be far off from the richness of this dish.  The peppers, cheese, corn and cream provide such a great blend of richness and spice.  I could eat six of these if I didn’t know it would probably immediately kill me.

Tlacoyos is a salad with masa cakes stuffed with plantains and black beans.  Topped with a chipotle salsa and cotija cheese, these were pleasantly crispy corn cakes.  I definitely could have eaten more of those if I hadn’t already had my daily fill of 15,000 calories from the chilaquiles.

Ensalada Ole - Hearts of romaine, ancho chile strips, cotija cheese, slivered toasted almonds and corn tortilla squares in creamy avocado-citrus dressing.  My aunt was still hungry for some reason, so she ordered this.  Nobody really ate it.  The chile strips were the only part worth trying.

Taco tapas - red peppers and cheese or portobello mushrooms.  At this point, you’re probably wondering how much did this glutenous jerk eat?  I ate small portions of everything you saw, which actually ended up being very filling.  The one dish that I ate on my own is the $3 taco tapas, in which you can order any taco you want (only two of which are vegetarian).  One red pepper and cheese and one portobello mushroom taco were slightly overpriced (duh, they were tapas!), but were very flavorful.

None of us felt like eating dessert, but the desserts in Olé are amazing, so I convinced my family to share a couple of desserts.  Also, it was my aunt/cousin’s birthday.  My non-birthday cousin decided to order the panecillo de chocolate, a Mexican bread pudding with Belgian bittersweet chocolate, fresh berries and cinnamon ice cream.  I thought the ice cream was delicious, but the bread pudding was a gummy mess.  Definitely not the pick of the litter.

I conned my aunt/cousin to get the bananas tres leches, as she didn’t want dessert, but she was entitled to one as it was her birthday.  The tres leches is very tasty as a creamy cake with three kinds of milk, banana liquor, and kahlua whipped cream.

I ordered the crepas de cajeta (you really can’t go wrong with anything “crepas” from Olé).  These were crepes served with a goats milk caramel sauce, and topped with candied pecans and vanilla ice cream.  There used to be a fried cheesecake dessert, which was replaced by this dish, and Olé goes from strength to strength with dessert. 

I am a big fan of Olé Mexican Grill, and I do appreciate them increasing the number of vegetarian dishes on the menu from when I initially went there a few years ago.  However, the food at Olé is beyond my normal price range as a struggling scientist, and is one of the types of places that you go to on special occasions.  One concern I have with Olé is that I feel that their success has caught up with them, and it has become a place that is a little to self-aware of how great it is.  Smugness is not an attitude befitting a good Mexican restaurant (or any non-steakhouse restaurant).  So, for that I’ll only give Olé Mexican Grill four cheese sandwiches.  Because the food is outstanding, but not very vegan friendly and a little too much attitude befitting a five cheese sandwich restaurant.

Olé Mexican Grill
11 Springfield Street
Cambridge, MA 02139 
(617) 492-4495