This joint definitely doesn’t look like much from the outside. Their small sign looks like the logo of some off-brand tostadas you might find at Dollar General. But step inside and you can tell the owners did their best to decorate the hell out of what was definitely a vanilla office space on the ground floor of a nondescript building. So many sugar skulls. So much Frida Kahlo worship. There hasn’t been this much Day of the Dead since The Book of Life. At first it seems the Spring break vibes are a little incongruous with the much more low-key Cranford environs, but, hey, somebody’s gotta turn the party up, right?
After a short wait at the long, Mexican-tiled bar we were ushered into the small-ish dining room. Where we were guided toward an awkward corner table that kind of sat between two walls that looked like the after state of the trash compactor from Star Wars… I’m not really sure how to describe it other than there is no way a human being would sit it this weird slit of an alcove. I’m going to hope it’s just a spare table they kept there to slide out if there was a particularly busy night, but this was a particularly busy night and the table was set. So, I’m not sure. But luckily for us, they took a right when we reached the trash compactor table and sat like normal human beings.
And, like normal human beings at a Mexican restaurant, we ordered chips and guac.It’s like a tic. For the same reason, I scan the menu, look for the word “mole” and slam that sucker closed. And there it was, right below something called tacos gringos and sushi burritos. Which, as far as I can tell, are only called that not because they’re actually sushi, but because they’re literally just burritos that are cut like a sushi roll? There was an actual sushi place that made sushi burritos in Flatiron called Sushirrito, but that and this are miles apart. But, yeah, I did the chicken mole enchiladas because that’s what I do. And they were saucy, decent and remarkably plentiful. That can be dicey sometimes; the curse of the under-filled enchilada. I’m sure the rice is authentic in some way, but I could really do without the green bean action. It gives the rice a vegetal taste that I’m not a fan of. That all aside, it’s a fun little place, the servers are pleasant and the mole is… well, it’s mole.
2 S Ave W – Cranford
908/272-4141
lacolinanewjersey.com
