Best Enchiladas: Candente’s Brisket Enchiladas
There are enchiladas on every menu of every Tex-Mex restaurant in town and they generally lean toward the “Mex” side of the hyphen. You’ve eaten them, you’re familiar with them. At Candente, the restaurant skews “Tex,” and the prime example is the Museum District eatery’s brisket enchilada plate. One of the signature dishes on the restaurant’s smoke-heavy menu, these rolled beauties are filled with chopped, smoked brisket from the restaurant’s sister establishment, The Pit Room. The USDA prime beef is accentuated lovingly with cheddar cheese, tangy pickled red onion and barbecue sauce. Yes, you read that right – barbecue sauce drizzled lightly over enchiladas rather than a customary gravy.
Since you knife into something that looks familiar, your palate’s muscle memory coasts along until it’s shook by the unexpected flavor of slow-smoked Texas brisket. The filling is generous and tender and the whole enchilada is so reminiscent of a smokehouse order even the frijoles refritos on the plate smack of ranch style beans. There are enchiladas on every menu of every Tex-Mex restaurant in town and their tastiness varies by a few degrees here or there. Candente angles sharply in a different direction and Houston’s culinary landscape is better for it.
4306 Yoakum
346-867-1156
candentehtx.com
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2022.
