Some days a service person turns a decent meal into a fabulous one. That was Jamie, our waitress at Rosa Mexicano! Somehow we bonded as our crazy group of 5 friends and relatives — turned into 6 and back to 5 — sat at one of her tables… A large round table not at all conducive to chatter. 
As I looked under the table to see if I could drop a leaf, she was right there assisting…four times — as we turned that large round into a square table in no time. Cozy worked much better.
We started with an order of their famous Guacamole en Molcajete ($14) made tableside with fresh avocados, jalapenos, tomato, onion and cilantro and served with warm tortilla chips, salsa pasilla de Oaxaca and salsa de tomatillo y habanero. Of course, a couple of us enjoyed their classic margarita, made with El Jimador 100% agave silver tequila, fresh lime juice and agave nectar.
As we were nibbling, Jamie dropped off an order of Zarape de Pato (roasted pulled duck layered between soft corn tortillas and topped with yellow pepper-habanero cream sauce), as she thought we’d like it.
Recommended entrees: Mariposa de Huachinango ($27.50), a pan roasted whole butterflied red snapper, brushed with guajillo chile and served with roasted tomatillo and garlic molcajete salsa, served with beans and rice; and Carne Asada ($19.50) of grilled steak with marinated guajillo and pasilla chiles, garlic, cumin and black pepper, served in a cast iron skillet with red bean-chorizo chili, corn esquites, chile de árbol salsa and freshly made warm corn tortillas.
We planned to skip dessert, but Jamie said, “No meal is complete with out chocolate,” as she placed an estallido de sol (chocolate sunburst) on the table for us to share. Delish!
Be sure to ask for Jamie when you go!
– bonnie
Rosa Mexicano Restaurant
9 East 18th Street
New York, NY 10003-1903
212-533-3350
www.rosamexicano.com
I feel affection for Guacamole Molcajete. Molcajetes are an incredibly influential part of Hispanic cooking, especially the mexican cooking. They’re used to grind things like chili peppers, spices, Guacamole and have been used for thousands of years. The regular rock molcajete and the pig head molcajete are made the authentic and traditional way, hand crafted in Mexico out of real volcanic rock. The small plastic ones are colorful and ideal for serving sauces. All of them are essentials if you want to make amazing food and serve it in an amazing way. Molcajete