Mojave-Southwest comes to Ditmars

John and I made it to Mojave (31st & Ditmars, under the train on the west side of the street) on Saturday night, and WOW. The place was packed when we got there around 8:30. We actually got the last table for 2. We sat all the way in the back, which wasn't bad. Even though the tables were kind of close (usually a huge pet peeve for John) we didn't feel like we could hear other diners and be heard ourselves. But that probably had more to do with the music being a little too loud for dinner. More than a few times I had to lean over the table to be heard. The seating against the wall is just a tad bit too high. I didn't feel like I towered over John but I could notice the difference. If you are tall and going with a shorter companion, let them have the seat along the wall.

Our waiter seemed a bit frazzled, but was very apologetic and came by when he could, which for frazzled was often enough to be attentive but not overbearing. It did take a little bit to get our orders placed, but I'll give them a pass since it was packed. It wasn't so long that I was annoyed, and I have a short fuse. It did give me enough time to take in the ambiance. The soft yellow walls with the soft lighting really added a tranquil, chill and even slightly romantic vibe (how could it not be romantic when I'm dining with my honey?). Any decorations were kept to a minimum, the light fixtures themselves were enough. The bar area in the back seemed to be cool, but I didn't get a good enough look (this time).

(the ceiling from my seat) (the bar/the back)

John surprised me by doing like the Romans and getting a Dos Xs, which I have never seen him drink and he did quite like it. Must be a difference when it's draft. I went for a frozen blood orange margarita, which I wasn't too happy with. The first few sips tasted like I was sucking out of a tequilla pond. It's probably more my fault for usually drinking super fruity margaritas and this was more traditional (albeit frozen) with some syrup around it for a slight flavoring. In retrospect I should have gone for the sangria, which someone a few tables over ordered and it looked yummy. The one margarita kind of went to my head quickly so I abstained from investigating drinks any further.

Our appetizers didn't take much longer to appear. John got a bowl of the chili which was so good he came dangerously close to licking the bowl clean. They also gave him a tiny spoon that got lost between the plate and bowl, he used a fork until he got to the end and found it. It also came with warm tortillas for dredging through the meatiness.

I decided on the Hand Hacked Haas Avocado Guacamole with blue corn chips. The only complaint about that one is that I was expecting a lot of guacamole, which considering is the name of the appetizer it was shockingly short on. As you can see in the picture you get a cute and tasty fried tortilla shell as the vessel for the guac, but it shares its space with both sour cream and a whole lot of diced tomatoes. It was pretty much two thirds tomatoes, one third sour cream and one third guacamole. Now, I dig that I got the tomatoes and sour cream, because I am not a huge fan of the green sauce this also comes with, but the ratio should be two thirds guac and so on. It was really really good guacamole, I just wished there was more of it. And I wished I had sampled the tasty tortilla vessel first, since it was way better than the run of the mill blue corn tortialla chips it came with. Lessons learned for next time.

Our dinners came just at the right time, not immediatly after the appetizers and not so long after that I was full from it. However I was full enough that I didn't finish my meal-not a bad thing, I had leftovers!

John, the carnivore, went for the Shortribs of Angus Beef with mole Colorado & chili-corn mashed potatoes-which earned a thumbs up from the waiter. The meat just fell off the bone as it should, and it wasn't too fatty. The mash, which was a different take on what he's used to was a nice compliment and very tasty.

I decided to take it light, and went for the Grilled Adobo Chicken Breast, Chiles & Cheese Quesadilla. I only have 2 complaints. For the price of the quesadilla ($12/13 don't recall off the top of my head), which is a pretty simple dish, it should have some rice or something accompany it, other than the sour cream, tomatoes and guac on top. Also, there were sooooo many chiles in it! I had meant to say easy on the chiles, but like I said our waiter was frazzled and I couldn't spot him after placing the order to say so. I just figured, how many could they put in? Enough that I was kind of deconstructing the poor quesadillas. That was my fault, I'm just not a spicy kind of person. Other than that, the chicken was great, the tortillas were crispy to perfection, and the cheese was gooey and melty-my favorite way. I had this with a side of the Frijoles Negro Borrachos Beans. I just like that Borracho translates to drunk. I neglected to ask if this had any meat in it (I don't eat red meat or pork and often find out too late that beans have pork added into the mix). I'm still not sure. They were spicier than I was expecting, but John helped me out (he likes spicy way more than I do).

This is where I got stumped. I just couldn't keep eating. Which bummed me out because I always look forward to dessert. I took a look at the dessert menu to see what I was missing out on, and I gotta tell ya, that molten chocolate cake will be sampled on the next visit.

All in all, we were both very happy with Mojave. It's a great addition to our neighborhood. The food is great, the athmosphere is a near perfect setting, they just need to work out the service kinks. Rumor is that managment pulled staff from Agave, the big sister restaurant in Manhattan, to fill in here so they could open faster than if they were staffing locally. Hopefully they'll get some bang up local servers and the frazzleness (did I just make up another word?) will disappear.

Happy feasting!