Mole Amarillo Shrimp Enchiladas by Ruth Paget
Main Street in Salinas, California by the Steinbeck Center has several great restaurants that tourists might like for a flavor of the American West. (Note: There is a reasonably priced parking garage by the Steinbeck Center, a Greyhound Bus Station, and the train station nearby for tourists from Silicon Valley and the Bay Area.)
My husband Laurent, my daughter Florence Paget, and I have tried Villa Azteca on Main Street Salinas several times. We like the restaurant’s dishes that are different from typical taquería fare.
On our last visit to Villa Azteca, we began our meal with typical guacamole made with mashed avocado, tomato, and onion. The guacamole came in a square, black dish made of porous volcanic rock that made you feel like you were dining in a rooftop restaurant in Mexico City.
For my main dish, I chose a shrimp enchilada in mole amarillo. The shrimp were pudgy and briny, which made me think they had been marinated in lime juice before being sautéed to fill the folded enchiladas. (Note: Villa Azteca also serves lobster enchiladas in mole amarillo. Laurent tried these and said they were excellent.)
The mole amarillo was a shiny yellow-orange color. I suspect this was made with cooked and puréed squash or pumpkin, queso fresco cheese, and a little habanero pepper. I made sure to soak up every bit of this delicious mole that I could eat just with warm tortillas and cheese filling.
I drank a chilled, non-alcoholic Mexican drink called jamaica (pronounced “ha-ma-ee-ka”) with my dinner. This purple colored drink was made from hibiscus flowers and tasted like slightly sour pomegranate juice. I loved the sour counterpoint to the spicy mole amarillo dish I was eating.
My family shared a Mexican flan, a milk custard pudding with warm caramel topping for dessert.
This fancy Mexican meal at Villa Azteca in Salinas, California was flavorful and relaxing. I love having Villa Azteca close to my home in Salinas and think tourists might like it for the food and proximity to parking and transportation.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
