Like its uptown cousin, Taco Taco, Mole provides a little taste of Oaxaca in a homey environment. The extremely narrow restaurant, decorated with Mexican tiles and exposed brick, feels more quaint than cramped, thanks to the chummy waiters and jovial groups of young downtown diners.

But the complex Mexican sauce isn’t Móle’s raison d'être: Cervera just likes how it makes an apt melting-pot metaphor for New York City. His redesign of the former Win 49 space features exposed brick, Mexican Talavera tile, and a snug 25 seats, and Elizalde’s menu conforms to the one uptown, which covers familiar taquito-to-torta territory.

The menu will look familiar to anyone who has eaten at the restaurant's Upper East Side counterpart. Start off with the elote asado, grilled corn topped with a tantalizingly tangy blend of anejo cheese, chile powder and lime, or the tamal oaxaqueno, soft corn dough stuffed with creamy cheese and green poblano peppers. The pollo en mole poblano is an absolute treat, a juicy half chicken smothered in a thick mole poblano sauce that strikes the perfect balance between sweet and spicy. More-ambitious specials include crepas con huitlacoche, mixiote (parchment-baked lamb shank), and the Yucatán specialty cochinita pibil (chile-marinated shredded pork, wrapped and baked in banana leaves). The pastel de tres leches, a creamy cake made with three different kinds of milk, is all sweet.