In today's "Eat" column, SF Weekly food critic Jonathan Kauffman slides onto the bolt-down stools in diner-turned-sandwich-slinger La Torta Gorda on 24th Street in the Mission. But wait: In place of the generic, Kauffman finds a portal to Mexico's highland city Puebla, rare in the Bay Area. The quesadillas ― filled with squash blossoms or huitlacoche and bright green leaves of epazote ― are fantastic. Also your new brunch obsession, tlayocos, and the un-emasculated mole. Kauffman:
Mole poblano, too often, is the Muzak version of itself, too sweet, too soft, too chocolaty. In La Torta Gorda's mole, the potency is restored: the toasted chiles reign over the fruit and ground nuts in the sauce, and their faint, charry bitterness melds to the late-hitting note of dark chocolate.Sweet.
