FOOD CRITIC
Los 2 Potrillos - 146 S Main St, Spanish Fork Proudly sponsored by Friends of the Magazine Walking into Los 2 Potrillos, you can immediately tell by the brightly painted walls, the pictures hanging around the dining area, the soccer game on the TV, and the smells in the air, that this isn't Cafe Rio or Taco Bell. This is real Mexican home cooking, and home cooking has no borders. Whether it's Nanna in North Carolina, Abuelita from Guadalajara, or Babushka from Moscow, a home-cooked meal is a special thing. Corporate kitchens cook for profits. Family kitchens cook for flavor, comfort, and a sense of home that will bring people back time and time again. Los 2 Potrillos is a family kitchen, through and through, and I will definitely be back. Overall, the food tasted great. For the most part, it was properly salted and seasoned, unlike many restaurants I’ve tried. That is the single biggest point of judgment for me, so Los 2 Potrillos scores major points for that. My thoughts on the individual dishes are below.
[DISCLAIMER] I really, REALLY love food! And I cook a LOT. My friends might even say my obsession with cooking is a little unhealthy. I'm also a perfectionist, and a constant tinkerer. Those attributes can make me sound like a harsh critic at times, but I promise I'm not. Usually, I can rattle off a dozen things I would change in a dish within 60 seconds of trying it, then clean the plate and enjoy every bite. My friends hear the criticism and think I hate it, but the clean plate doesn't lie. So please, take everything I say as the ramblings of an obsessive, perfectionist, wildly experimental chef who deeply enjoyed my experience at Los 2 Potrillos.
CHIPS & SALSA - The chips could use more salt, as could the salsa. The salsa tasted very tomato-y, and a little tinny like canned tomatoes often do. It was also runny, which is fine when it's used as a sauce to serve over a dish but doesn't work well for dipping. It had decent heat and acidity and looked like it had plenty of onions, peppers and cilantro, but you can’t really taste them. If they puréed it, that would disperse the other flavors more evenly and improve the texture for dipping. 3 stars
CARNE ASADA - The meat was well-salted, tender and flavorful. I'd like a little more char, which they could do by cooking it a little hotter and faster. The grilled onions and jalapeño were fantastic. The onions were nicely caramelized with just the right amount of char, and just a little crispness. The jalapeño was perfectly tender 24
with lightly charred, blistered skin. The refried beans were well-seasoned with great texture. The rice needed a bit more salt and spice, but it was perfectly tender and fluffy. 4 stars
PORK CHILI VERDE - The green chili sauce was a little thin and could use more chili flavor, but when you taste the sauce on its own, it's very good. Maybe it could just be cooked down a bit more. The meat was flawlessly cooked and seasoned, fork tender and succulent. I can't think of a restaurant outside of New Mexico that has ever served me a better chili verde. 4 stars
CHILES RELLENOS - The chiles rellenos have good flavor, but the pepper was mushy. A good chile relleno should be tender, but not mushy. That made it leak a lot of juice after cooking, which made the batter soak through and come off. If they cooked it a little hotter and faster, and possibly in a deep fryer (which isn’t traditional, but it works), that would take this from 2 stars to 4 stars. ENCHILADAS - I'm guessing the sauce is the same they use for the chili verde. It's flavorful, but too thin, so the enchiladas feel like they aren't very "chiladas". Aside from that, the tortillas are fresh and flavorful, the meat is well-seasoned and tender, and they’re topped with just the right amount of cheese. Thicken up the sauce a bit, maybe serve them with both red and green chili sauces, and this would be another standout in their lineup of excellent dishes. 3 stars
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BEEF TAMALES - The tamales were as close to perfect as I've ever tasted. The masa was firm but tender. The ratio of masa to filling was spot on. The beef filling was tender, juicy and perfectly seasoned, with an unexpected but pleasant touch of sweetness, like just a hint of a good, Memphisstyle BBQ sauce. The tamales are easily 5 stars.
MOLÉ POBLANO - I've saved the best for last. I've eaten at least a hundred plates of restaurant molé in my life, in at least six different states across the Southwest. In my experience, ordering a plate of molé is a bit of a gamble. Sometimes it's great, other times not so much. This gamble paid off BIG! The Molé Poblano at Los 2 Potrillos is relatively mild, which is unique in my experience with black molés. They're often very assertive and unbalanced, which can be off-putting, especially for people who are trying molé for the first time. This one was very wellbalanced between sweet, spicy, earthy, bitter (in a good way), salty and rich. I spoke to the chef afterwards about how they make their molé, and without giving away their family secrets, I will say, they do it right. If I had to describe this molé in a single word, I would say it's "approachable". If you've never tried a traditional molé negro, and have been hesitant to do so based on things you've heard, try this one. It's excellent! I can't go higher than 5 stars, so I'll give it that, plus a huge smile and two thumbs up!
