The huge Hacienda Grill looks like its Salinas big-box neighbors – but isn’t.

Real, authentic, honest-to-Dios mole (MOH-leh) sauce often involves somewhere around 4,548 different dried peppers and a wonderland of other ingredients ranging from plantains to pine nuts to seedless grapes to cinnamon. It is a dynamic, family-honored, time-tested, layered and lavish thing. It is also delicious. And deeply personal, dripping with specific identity.

So when Mike Hackett, co-owner-operator of the new Hacienda Mexican Grill (424-6400) in Salinas, challenged his best cooks to each bring in their own mole to see whose tasted best, it was a smart move, but it was also a daring one as far as healthy kitchen chemistry goes.

The moles were totally different. One involved orange peels and peanut butter. Another raisins and nuts. The other entry married chocolate with intense herbs and, in classic mole fashion, seemingly endless types of chiles.

“Mole is a very intricate dish,” Hackett says. “Such complex flavors. Some are dark, heavy, roasted, citrusy. Some are very earthy and nutty. I learned a lot quick.”

Fortunately the recipes were taken personally – and taking second place was not. (“That’s what’s nice about being the boss,” Hackett says, “I get to pick the mole. It was just right.”)

And fortunately he has gifted chefs. I tried the victorious mole ($12.95), and it’s everything an authentic dark red mole poblano should be, moving through a kaleidoscope of vibrancy, spice, earthiness and depth, all with a velour-velvet texture and a touch of chocolate sweetness and lively lime.

It’s also a vital tool because there’s something else Hackett and co-owner Salvador Jimenez are doing that’s a little risky: wading into big-box central off of North Davis Road, risking death by drowning in the sea ofChuck-E-Cheese, Outback Steakhouse and Walmart.

Hacienda itself occupies a former Chevy’s. In fact, taking that Chevy’s space is risky too, as it still feels and looks like a cookie-cutter chain outlet, and is the size of an airplane hangar, with a huge bar area, expansive private party room with its own bar and two sizeable outdoor patios.

It’ll be dishes like the mole that differentiate it from its predecessor and trump nearby El Pollo Loco. Other things to recommend it include the sheer number of molcajetes – those steaming volcanic-rock cauldrons of beef, chicken or seafood overloaded with chorizo, nopales, broth, onions and melting cheese served in a giant stone bowl – with so many that they occupy their own menu, including an ambitious fish combination ($24.99) with mahi mahi, salmon, tilapia and shrimp. All meats are sizzled up on a mesquite grill, which means good things for the carne asada ($12.95 with rice, beans, tortillas, guacamole and sauces) and fajitas (marinated chicken breast, steak, shrimp or fish of the day, $14.95-$18.49; trio for $19.95).

The corn tortillas are made by hand in-house and the flour tortillas done for them by small independent Salinas bakery La Mexicana on Market Street (758-1392). A full bar stocks eight draft beers ($5 or $15/pitcher) and more than 50 different tequilas and mezcals (among other liquors), though none of them go into the “Hennychata” ($10), an intuitively tasty combo of Hennessy in horchata (really). I also tried the signature Cadillac ($9, $11) from salt-of-the-Earth/salt-on-the-rim barkeep Leslie Corona ($8/small, $10/large) from the eye-catching “maragaritas y mas” menu and its offerings like La Bomba ($9, $11) and the hibiscus margarita ($8, $11). The Caddy meets her hype as a signature sipper.

The values appear everywhere. Fiesta lunch specials (11am-3pm weekdays) like salmon fajitas, two enchiladas with cheese, chicken or beef (and red or green) and shrimp Caesar salad all present strong values at $8.99. Weekday specials called “two for $20” include an appetizer and two two-item combos. Rotating all-the-time specials rope in things like agua chiles with marinated shrimp and serrano peppers ($12.95), seven mares soup with shrimp, octopus, snapper, salmon, crab with tortillas ($12.95) and posole or menudo ($9.95) too.

Nine television screens line the walls, which makes Hacienda an option for football on Sundays, Mondays or Thursdays. Happy hours are from 3-6pm Mondays through Fridays and offer $3 pints, $10 pitchers and $4 house margaritas and well-drinks. Traditional Mexican music is always on and, on Fridays and Saturdays, live banda groups perform. Salsa dancing with free lessons goes down Wednesdays at 8pm.

Hackett and Jimenez know something about charming local legions. Hackett’s Casa Sorrento (757-2720) on Salinas Street, where great Italian comfort food values and popular karaoke, live music and theme nights drum up regular crowds, is a Salinas landmark. Jimenez’s Banker’s Casino (422-6666) parking lot enjoys one of those always-full existences, which means he accurately ID’d a Salinas Valley need for a sports lounge-card room-restaurant. That said, Hackett’s Old Town Bar & Grill didn’t stick.

Here’s hoping this one does, scoring one for local guys wading bravely into the depths of corporate chain land with local ownership, homemade tortillas, bang-for-the-buck bargains and mole authenticity as their mouthwatering weapons.

QUICKBITES

• Much-anticipated Patria from chef-owner Paulo Kautz, formerly of Carmel Valley’s Cafe Rustica, is open on Main Street in Salinas.

•I love that Robbie’s Oceanfresh Seafood (212-0231) in The Wharf Marketplace (649-1116) scored me a bag of 60 small Hamma Hamma oysters for $0.85 each.

•Jose’s Mexican Bar & Grill in Monterey (655-4419), my top south-of-the-border spot and first restaurant I reviewed for the Weekly, is adios after this month because of increased lease $$. The original Seaside spot carries on.

•News of Earthbound’s sale to WhiteWave touched off a storm from organic watchdogs and Big Organic alike. I have the emails to prove it, on the blog.

•It’s like damn, ham. I didn’t realize you were so good. The love story started with a press ham (not a pressed ham) from Whole Foods (333-1600), continued with a colleague on a taste panel saying “Ham is an emotional meat” and ended with some of the best ham-and-swiss biscuits this side of the South.

•French food fun at latest Carmel Belle (624-1600) pop-up experience 5-9pm Sunday, Dec. 22, with pot-au-feu from Bistro Moulin’s French-born Christophe Bony ($35 includes donation to Food Bank for Monterey County).

• Two lifers are starting new chapters. One of the longest tenured chefs in California kitchens, Pedro De La Cruz of Fandango (372-3456), is moving on to his home kitchen (and couch) after more than four decades working with owner Pierre Bain there and Club XIX. And after 32 years as a chef at Sardine Factory (373-3775), Gaspar Catanzaro will miss “going out into the dining room every day – and the everyday action” but digs coordinating with local chefs on what fish they need and specialty items as new corporate chef at Monterey Fish Company on Wharf II (775-0522).

• STICKS (647-7470) Just added new patio fire pits overlooking the Spanish Bay links and the Pacific.

• Like the Mexican saying goes, “A darle que es mole de olla.” In other words, let’s get down to it – we’ve got our work cut out for us, like we’re making mole.