Fall is officially here, finally. And that means indulging in copious amounts of butternut squash, pumpkin and all the other fall foods that this sweater weather has to offer. Last week, I tried a fall stuffed ravioli with butternut squash and sweet potato from Terramia. (Still dreaming about it.) But this week I decided to spice it up a little, and see how the autumnal foods compared in a more colorful and flavorful Latino dish.

And did they ever. Temazcal Tequila Cantina, located in Boston’s Seaport district, flaunted their flautas and served up a fall dish with similar ingredients from the pasta, but with completely different results—in a good way. The restaurant’s Chile Relleno de Temazcal consisted of a Meringue-dipped poblano chile (mm hmm) served up with Chihuahua cheese, pepitas quinoa (which is a Spanish culinary term for pumpkin seed) with butternut squash and salsa ranchero. As it arrived at my table I almost did a little mambo dance of my own: it looked delicious.

And huge. In fact, I would highly (no, definitely) recommend splitting it. As for the food itself, I was certainly guilty of harboring negative pre-notions about the quinoa. For the most part I associate quinoa with blandness—until now. The pepitas quinoa with butternut squash was a seasonal treat, and without a doubt, the most flavorful version of quinoa I’ve ever tasted.

The butternut squash quinoa perfectly complemented the stuffed chile pepper, which was lightly fried and stuffed with hot melting cheese (oh my gawd). Everything really is better with cheese.

So, did it live up to last week’s dish? I’d say so. While nothing can really overthrow my love for pasta, the Chile Relleno de Temazcal certainly came close. If you order this dish, I would recommend splitting it and sharing an appetizer. And speaking of appetizer, make sure you try the Temazcal salad made with roasted beets, jicama, oranges, lettuce, pine nuts, avocado and chile-lime vinaigrette (above). The perfect fall accompaniment to the Chile Relleno dish of the week.