Smith Street gets some magnificent mole at Ruta Oaxaca  

By Scott Lynch

The two pairs of brothers behind Ruta Oaxaca met almost 20 years ago, when they were all working in the trenches at various restaurants: bussing tables, cooking on the line, washing dishes. Carlos and Felipe Arellano were born and raised in Mexico, in the central city of Oaxaca, and at the time were living in the Bronx. Jose and Pedro Castillo’s family are from El Salvador, and had resettled on Long Island by the time the kids came along. But as Jose Castillo told Brooklyn Magazine, even back then in high school they were making plans to run their own place one day together.

It took a while, as these things can, but the Castillos and Arellanos finally realized their dreams when the first Ruta Oaxaca, which Jose describes as “upscale Mexican,” opened in Astoria right in the heart of that tough first pandemic winter. “It was January 3, 2021,” Jose remembers. “We had three takeout orders, total, all day. We wanted to jump off the roof!”

The former HiHi Room, repurposed (Photo by Scott Lynch)

They stuck with it, of course. The Astoria restaurant became a neighborhood hit, and they followed with two more Rutas on Long Island (in Patchogue and Woodbury) and, about a month ago, finally set up shop in the County of Kings, taking over from the much-missed HiHi Room at that great sprawling spot, complete with spacious back patio, on Smith Street. “We loved the energy of the place from the moment we saw it,” Jose says. “We feel so lucky to be in Brooklyn.”

The menu here (or the “ruta,” which translates as “route” in English), starts in Mexico City, says Jose, then travels down to Oaxaca with side trips to various other Mexican states, “picking the best dishes from each” along the way. There are tacos, of course —12 varieties of them — which come three to an order and are stuffed to overflowing. The move is to order the “tacos mixto” and get three different kinds for $20, which in my case meant a very good chorizo, the sausage fried to a crisp; a peppy al pastor; and a nice-and-gloppy pescado. Other options include birria, carnitas, pollo asado, “vegetables” and camerones.

Pechuga and mole verde, $27 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Ruta’s mole is superb, both the dark, dense Oaxacan kind that completely covered my chicken enchiladas (you can also get it on beef short ribs), and the lively verde kind that puddled beneath my deftly-roasted pechuga de pollo. Jose says they have a chef whose only responsibility is to make the moles, and she’s the only person who’s allowed to touch them. She does an excellent job. After I had my fill of chicken I spooned up both of these like they were some sort of insane soup.

There are two chicken enchiladas underneath all that gorgeous Oaxaca mole, $26 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

There’s much more at Ruta Oaxaca as well, from expected crowd-pleasers like guacamole and nachos to composed plates of grilled pulpo or strip steak with mole coloradito. Ruta also serves brunch every day, starring huevos rancheros and chilaquiles. And the coffee flan is phenomenal, thick and almost impossibly rich, the crumbled candied pumpkin seeds on top adding a nice bit of crunch.

TFW it’s flan, $10 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

The partners are still waiting for the liquor license to kick in, and Jose tells us he “can’t wait to introduce the neighborhood to our 150 types of Mezcal and 110 types of tequila.” Sounds like a party!

Ruta Oaxaca is located at 138 Smith Street, between Dean and Bergen Streets, and is currently open on Monday through Thursday from noon to 10 p.m., on Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.