The best culinary multiplex in Broward County — a former tire shop that houses two fine restaurants — offers many reasons to visit. Add the chicken mole at One Door East to the list.
It is listed on the menu as petite marinated chicken with Mexican mole, cotija cheese, pickled fresno peppers and cilantro ($27). It is Mexican complexity that is simply delicious, with a sauce that is balanced and soulful. It is not sweet nor overly chocolatey, traits that mar too many moles. When you cut a piece of chicken from the bone and swipe it through the deep, rich, reddish-brown sauce, you taste simmer, smoke and subtlety.
The dish is the creation of One Door East chef Joe Mizzoni, with an assist from his wife’s family in Mexico. They have ties to Oaxaca and Puebla, the two Mexican states that claim to be the ancestral home of mole, the multi-ingredient, labor-intensive sauce with a base of ground chili peppers that has many styles and varieties.
Mole is an amalgam of flavors, spices and continents, with influences from Africa, Europe and the Americas. Like snowflakes, no two recipes are exactly alike. Mizzoni, who took over at One Door East after leaving Jeremy Ford’s Stubborn Seed, became hooked after a visit to Puebla. He developed his recipe after watching his wife’s grandmother make her mole. He does not go overboard, using a modest 23 ingredients (some versions use more than 50). He calls his a red mole, with a base of guajillo chilies and finished with 70-percent cacao dark chocolate and sherry vinegar.
The organic, free-range chicken comes from Lake Meadow Naturals farm in central Florida. The dish uses a half-chicken on the bone, cut in pieces and marinated in herbs, garlic and citrus, then grilled for smokiness and finished in the oven. The chicken, juicy and flavorful, sits on a mole puddle, topped with sprigs of fresh cilantro and a dusting of crumbled white cheese. A half lime sits on the side for a livening spritz of acidity, if that’s your thing (yes, please).
The dish is a perfect fit at One Door East, a global restaurant that is a happy mishmash of tapas bar, izakaya lounge and food laboratory that also features a popular Dining in the Dark program. Chef Giovanni Rocchio and his partners launched One Door East in 2016 in the same building as his sublime Valentino Cucina, converting space that he had been using as a bakery.
Despite losing its supremely talented (and Michelin-starred) opening chef Jeremy Bearman in 2017, One Door East has matured into a better overall restaurant. Mizzoni, who took over last year after he left Stubborn Seed, has sharpened and refined the menu. It can still get loud on busy nights, but drapery and other soundproofing measures have helped. And the back dining area has become more intimate, slightly partitioned from the lively bar.
Rocchio allows Mizzoni the freedom to play and experiment, with an ever-changing menu of seasonal items and fresh produce from local farms such as Swank in Loxahatchee. Mizzoni has a real way with vegetables, and he has boosted options for vegans and vegetarians. These creative dishes should please even the fiercest of carnivores.
Instead of overplayed avocado toast, Mizzoni uses mashed up garbanzo beans and basil on sourdough for his version ($10). His roasted beet salad ($13) is a riot of unexpected color and flavor, with a blanket of white lemon yogurt, pickled blueberries, brown nubs of candied pecans and pink mounds of beet mousse. Roasted Mexican street corn off the cob ($11) is served with cotija, fresnos and orange dollops of chipotle aioli.
For something more soulful, chicken mole is the way to go.
One Door East, 620 S. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, 954-368-6902, OneDoorEast.com, bar opens 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, dinner 5:30-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 5:30-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday, closed Sunday.
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