The tastes of Central Mexico are now in Corpus Christi.
Molé, a new restaurant at 6042 South Padre Island Drive, is not what you would expect of a Mexican restaurant in the land of Tex-Mex.
“We don’t use the yellow cheeses, and we make everything fresh, including the tortillas,” said Brooke Montes, who with her husband, Edgar, owns and operates the new eatery.
And when she says fresh, she means fresh.
“We boil the corn and make our own masa for the corn tortillas,” she said. “And, we don’t add lard!”
They also bring in the unique peppers and spices from Mexico that go into the sauces that have made Edgar’s mother’s restaurant, El Portal in Queretaro, famous.
“Some of these flavors, it’s hard to explain because you’ve never had this type of food,” Brooke said. “The peppers we roast and puree ourselves to create the sauces. If I told you the ingredients, you wouldn’t believe those things mixed together to make this flavor.”
But she won’t be telling you all of those ingredients. In an enthusiastic rendering of a dish, she always stops short before giving away the family secrets.
She will tell you her vendors, however. The Monteses are proud of their commitment to fresh ingredients. Brooke names a local chicken purveyor who supplies fresh meat daily.
“We boil and debone them ourselves,” she said.
Homegrown family
Brooke Montes grew up in Corpus Christi. Edgar split time between the family restaurant and Houston, where the two met. They spent 17 years working together at Chili’s. In fact, Brooke opened the first Corpus Christi Chili’s. Now, with three young sons in tow, they have decided Corpus Christi is the place to live and raise a family.
“The quality of life is so much better here,” Edgar said. “There are more activities. I can take my kids hunting, fishing, many more things than in the city.”
“We believe in local,” Brooke said. We shop local, we eat local, we support our local community.”
Which translates to the restaurant. The ingredients that are not found locally are acquired from their home base such as the peppers and spices from Central Mexico. They also prepare three traditional beverages from scratch, not concentrate. The jamaica, horchata and tamarind drinks are all freshly made and come with unlimited refills.
Nothing is ordered pre-cut, pre-cooked or shredded.
“Most places use prepackaged avocados or shredded lettuce,” Brooke said. “Here, we cut our own produce. You can taste the difference. I know when I’m eating a prepackaged salad.”
The meats also are fresh and specially prepared including the pastor, which rotates on a spike slowly cooking in the juices and flavors. Or, as the menu puts it so much more eloquently: Pork meat with pepper-infused sauce slow-cooked over an open flame with onions, cilantro and pineapple pico de gallo.
Some of the restaurant’s most popular dishes are Tacos Dorados (pork carnitas or chicken salpicon in a crispy deep-fried corn tortilla with lettuce, Mexican cream and salsa) and Enchiladas Rojas (tomato-infused sauce, chicken, queso fresco, topped with sliced avocado and Mexican cream).
The gorditas at Molé are the signature dish at the family restaurant in Queretaro. Just like from home, the gorditas from Molé are pork-infused tortillas stuffed with a choice of salpicon or Cascabel chicken, tomatillo pork, rojo pork, picadillo or carnitas.
Hungry yet? Fortunately, you no longer have to travel 750 miles to experience the unique flavors of Central Mexico. You can find them right here in Corpus Christi!
