You don’t have to go far for a taste of real Mexico.
Orale Mexican Kitchen, which opened in April in Downtown Jersey City, offers popular Mexican street eats and specialties concocted by chef James Muir including nine different tacos, six guacamoles and salsa made tableside.
Mexican dining is an old hat for owners Louis Alvarez and Alex Mendelsohn, who both worked at Rosa Mexicano in New York.
Orale Mexican Kitchen, thanks to its exposed brick walls and vibrant, whimsical artwork, strikes an approachabe urban vibe. (Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger)
As Day of the Dead celebrations go, Orale Mexican Kitchen holds lots of promise. This year will be the restaurant’s first, and the vibe couldn’t be more perfect.
Orale Mexican Kitchen wondrously combines the serious and the vivid, the somber and the celebratory. You have floor-to-ceiling exposed brick walls, sparkly pressed tin ceilings and a sinister, imposing dungeon door that leads to the back dining room. Then you have a display of brightly colored sodas that are lined up like chorus dancers and shimmering amid their back-lighting, an equally clever and humorous display of soccer balls and bar stools the colors of jellybeans. Plus, and perhaps most important, you have an absolute mind swim of tequilas — who knew so many varieties existed?
Órale Mexican Kitchen in Jersey City has attracted crowds since it opened in 2013.
The minute you enter Órale Mexican Kitchen in Jersey City, you can see that the person who decorated it has a fine eye for design. Note, in particular, the beautifully lit bottles of Jarritos soda, in colors that reflect their flavors (lime, strawberry, fruit punch, mandarin and grapefruit). After a flight of tequila and a round of guacamole studded with unexpected treats, like cubes of Cabrales blue cheese or juicy pineapple, you know you are in for more than just visual delights.
Orale, pronounced aura-lay, is well named. “It means, ‘Hell, yeah!’ or ‘C’mon in!’ in Mexico City slang,” chef James Muir told me. Muir, 36, is not Mexican, but he knows his Mexican food. The son of a Scottish father and a French mother, he grew up in Buenos Aires, went to prep school in Massachusetts and traveled widely through Mexico. His food at Órale is as authentic and vivacious as anything I’ve eaten in Mexico City.
Grove Street—downtown, near the Hudson River—has become Jersey City’s Restaurant Row. The young hipsters who populate the neighborhood embraced Órale as soon as it opened in April. It’s easy to understand why. The look alone is worth a visit, from the illuminated floor-to-ceiling display of bottled Mexican sodas in their day-glo colors to the Lucha Libre wrestling masks on the walls.
While I don’t usually travel across the Jersey City/Hoboken border all that often {actually that’s a total lie; I’m just trying to be dramatic}, I decided to do just that in order to try out a delicious {new} hot spot in Jersey City on Grove Street called Orale Mexican Kitchen.
In the shadows of Lower Manhattan is a brand new food scene that is rivaling some of the trendiest spots in New York: that scene is in Jersey City.
Whether you’re looking for a brand new gastropub, great Mexican food or fine dining, Jersey City — becoming known as the sixth borough — might be a place for you.
As a wandering gourmand, my passion for the epicurean spirit has led me to establishments near and far. I have always said that good food is worth traveling for, and I have been known to embark on a gastronomic voyage, simply because of a fellow foodie’s recommendation. These adventures have brought me to places that I still dream about today and conversely these excursions have been responsible for numerous night terrors.
I thoroughly enjoy the anticipation of driving to a restaurant that I have never been to before. There is a certain Schrödinger’s cat like perception, because as I am in transit the restaurant is both bad and good. This is why I continue doing this wild and crazy hobby turned damn near full time job, that and of course, I freaking love food like Kayne West loves being a douche.
Orale Mexican Kitchen in Jersey City may have a great modern vibe, but it also boasts an honest, authentic flan. (Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger)
Dish of the week: Vanilla flan ($6) with cajeta sauce at Orale Mexican Kitchen in Jersey City.
Cajeta is a thick Mexican caramel often made with goat’s milk. It’s a decadent treat (think dulce de leche, which is often made with whole cow’s milk), a standout favorite in Latin American cuisine. At Orale Mexican Kitchen, it’s a delicate accessory, used with remarkable restraint on an equally delicate flan. This flan, dressed as well in a dollop of fresh whipped cream, is a dessert that, despite its rich ingredients, hasn’t succumbed to the excess that is the Americanization of Latin food. It’s a flan that’s simple, rich, honest.
Órale Mexican Kitchen offers fresh, elevated Mexican cuisine using locally-sourced ingredients, exclusively. Owners Louis Alvarez and Alex Mendelsohn, former executives with Rosa Mexicano Restaurants, bring a new level of vibrancy to a Jersey City neighborhood already studded with culinary jewels.
Chef James Muir from Orale Mexican Kitchen in Jersey City shared his recipe for Cordero, which is Lamb Ribs in Tamarind Glaze.
