Los Naranjos.

Anyone familiar with this column is well aware of my affinity for nouvelle Mexican cuisine. After reviewing several Mexican-with-a-twist restaurants last year, I made a pact with the other editors that I would vary my choices and steer clear of alta comida Mexicana for the foreseeable future. Well, I couldn't stay away from my tried-and-true favorite for long, especially after discovering a delightful new restaurant in Polanco called Los Naranjos, which opened last October.

At its best, nouvelle Mexican cuisine is at once exhilarating and familiar, with pre-Colombian and colonial ingredients and recipes prepared with modern surprises. Exotic moles you would never have time to make at home are served side-by-side with such simple staples as sopa de fideo. Good nouvelle Mexican cuisine makes you feel both adventurous and right at home.

The trend is not new, and every variant you can imagine is available in Mexico City. Whereas some restaurants get a little too creative ("Hey, let's serve an orange-huitlacoche-requefort-xoconostle mole with that shrimp!") and others stray on the side of conventionality, Los Naranjos hits the culinary nail on the head.

The desert ambience the eatery exudes with its soft orange walls and the large, sheet metal lamp on the wall-whose back-lit design sends off shadows and sun-like rays-inspired our group's choice of appetizers. We started with Sinaloan chilorio tacos. Neatly packaged within a flour tortilla is delicious shredded pork, spiced with flavors that seemed reminiscent of the Middle East. We also tried the smoked marlin tostados. Delicious and fresh, they sported lettuce, tomato, and even an interesting addition of mayonnaise.

Our favorite entree of the evening was the beef filet al chileado. Despite its name, the light, green sauce that accompanies the tender steak is not extremely spicy, and is rounded out by the earthy flavor of crushed squash seeds (pipian). The menu boasts two different shrimp dishes. One achieves an interesting sweet-and-savory combination with its chipotle-tamarind sauce. The other features shrimp that have been marinated in tequila, accompanied by julienne nopal and fresh prickly pear (xoconostle), and smothered in a sauce made of chile anchos and dried tomatoes. Both are wonderful.

If you think you've tasted every mole that could possibly exist, think again. The chicken breast rolls with Xico mole will delight even the most seasoned mole expert. Filled with curd cheese and wrapped in hoja santa, the rolls are accompanied by fried plantain and nestled on a dark red mole of dried fruits, almonds, sesame seeds, chiles and herbs. Those 17th century nuns from Puebla had nothing on this.

As you can imagine, we only had room for one dessert, and wisely chose the zapote mousse in a wild-orange sauce. The black zapote fruit is a Mexican treasure, and in its mousse form was light and fluffy. The traditional zingy accompaniment of oranges makes this dessert a delight.

Los Naranjos may be a bit pricey in comparison to other nouvelle Mexican cuisine eateries, but its masterful creations, fine service and comfortable ambience make it worth every peso.