Food, Wine and Travel ... With Recipes: TableConversation.com

Traveler's Favorite: Casa Oaxaca

We were planning a trip to Oaxaca, and I promised I’d let you know about restaurants we especially liked.

The favorite was Casa Oaxaca. We ate there twice so I could re-experience camarones al guajillo con alcaparras, setas, flores de calabaza y ajo (prawns with guajillo chiles, capers, oyster mushrooms, zucchini flowers and garlic). The dish was served on a pureed plantain base—delicious.

Both the bar and restaurant are beautifully designed, with a gallery entrance that sets the mood.--K.W., Paso Robles

Casa Oaxaca is located at Garcia Vigil 407, Oaxaca, Oax., Mexico. Tel: 52 (01) 951-514-4173.

Pricey Tequila; Free Food

If you drank a different tequila every night for a year, you still wouldn’t get through the stash at Amaranta Cocina Mexicana in Canoga Park.

This restaurant prides itself on making available more than 375 tequilas. Some are displayed in niches in the wall at the back. All of them are on a very long menu divided according to color and intensity of flavor.

The list starts with “The Best of the Best,” meaning ultra premium tequilas. The “best” of these is Partida Elegante Extra Anejo, at $110 a shot.

You don’t get just tequila for that, but a fancy presentation on a silver tray garnished with cinnamon-dusted orange slices and your choice of any entrée. 

The most expensive dish is filete minon con cabra (filet mignon with bacon, tomatillo and chipotle sauce and an ancho chile stuffed with goat cheese). At $19, it would bring the cost of the tequila shot down to only $91.

If I were choosing, I would go for the enchiladas de jamaica ($16). My Partida shot then would rise to $94. This is only the second time that I have seen red jamaica (hibiscus) flowers used at a restaurant in anything but a drink. The other occasion was in Oaxaca at El Naranjo, where fresh jamaica flowers were mixed into a salad.

If I ordered my second choice, coliflor capeada (fried, batter coated cauliflower), the shot would go up to $98, because this dish is just $12.  The cauliflower is stuffed with cheese, set in a tomato sauce and topped with a creamy mixture of poblano chile strips and mushrooms. It’s another dish not often found on restaurant menus.

The enchiladas, by the way, contain vegetables as well as jamaica flowers, which add a nice tang to the flavor. More flowers are on top, along with strands of sour cream.

If there were anything left in my wallet or credit card account after the tequila splurge, I would then order Mexican chocolate brownies ($6). These are lightly sweet and cake-like rather than dense and fudgy. And they taste delicately of the spices used in Mexican  chocolate.

Cut into triangles and glazed with chocolate sauce, the brownies come on a big plate with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and swirls of strawberry coulis.

If I were too broke to afford this presentation, there is another option. Mexican chocolate  brownies to go are only $2 in the takeout shop next door.

Amaranta Cocina Mexicana, 6600 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Suite 1029, Canoga Park, CA 91303. (The restaurant is inside the Westfield Topanga Mall.) Tel: (818) 610.3599

Memorable Mexican Food

I spotted La Michoacana right after I turned off the 10 freeway and headed toward Desert Hot Springs. Set back in the desert, it looked like the sort of modest place that might have great Mexican food, and I knew that I had to eat there.

It was heavily barred, though, and appeared to be closed. Fortunately, the forbidding red bars turned out to be decorative. Inside I found a small, cozy restaurant with booths upholstered in bright stripes, a long menu of popular Mexican dishes and, on the front counter, big jars of the fresh fruit drinks--aguas frescas—that go so well with spicy food.

La Michoacana  is a genuine mom and pop place. The cook—too shy  to give his name, his wife said—is from Los Reyes in the state of Michoacan. She is from Aguascalientes.

What to order with so many choices?. Chiles rellenos made the proper way with poblano chiles? Tacos and enchiladas on lunch specials? After some thought, I chose carne de res en chile colorado--beef in red chile sauce. This would give me a chance to observe the cook’s skill with sauces.

There was a risk. The sauce could have been ordinary, made with canned red chile sauce or chili powder, and the meat could have been tough and dry.

But my instincts were correct.  The dish was wonderful, the meat succulent, the sauce a vivid red and the flavor different from any chile colorado that I have tasted or made myself.

The distinctive acid note came from tomatillos, the small green tomatoes with papery husks. Dried California chiles added spiciness and rich color. Tomatoes contributed yet more redness. Onion and garlic, cloves, black pepper and oregano rounded out the flavor without being obtrusive.

It was, as I had hoped, a very good meal and a substantial one, including rice, cheese-topped beans and tortillas. And there was sweet, mellow cantaloupe water to satisfy my thirst before tackling the dry desert air again.

Carne de res en chile colorado is $8.49 at La Michoacana, 16760 Palm Drive, Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240. (corner Dillon Road). Tel: (760) 251-5312. Open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Chilaquiles for Breakfast

“We serve breakfast, lunch and Mexican food,” announces Los Robles Café in Paso Robles, as if Mexican food were a thing apart from ordinary meals.

That is not the case, though. Breakfast at Los Robles is likely to be chilaquiles, huevos rancheros, huevos a la mexicana, machaca or other typically Mexican fare. And lunch could be chile verde, camarones al mojo de ajo, fajitas, chiles rellenos, a torta (sandwich) or a burrito.

This modest, pleasant restaurant re-opened Thanksgiving Day, 2007, after two years of remodeling. That was a long time to be denied such good food as my hearty plate of chilaquiles, pinto beans and home fries. Yes, home fries and ketchup—Mexican-American style fusion.

The freshly made chilaquiles (tortilla hash) were delicious, with good tortilla texture, meaning not soggy, and a sauce made from grilled tomatoes, tomatillos and jalapenos.

Ignacio and Maria Torres are the owners, and Ignacio is the chef. They’re from San Jose Piedras Blancas in the state of Michoacan, and a large, colorful mural of the Piedras Blancas bridge dominates the restaurant.

Los Robles Café serves breakfast, lunch--and Mexican food--Monday through Wednesday, but stays open for dinner Thursday through Sunday.

Los Robles Café, 1420 Spring Street, Paso Robles, CA 93446. Tel: (805) 239-8526.

Oaxaca in Downtown L.A.

If you’re shopping in the downtown Fashion District, head a little farther south to Washington Boulevard, and there, between Maple Avenue and Santee Street, you’ll find Lindo Oaxaca.

It’s an odd place for a Oaxacan restaurant, but maybe locating in that area was smart. Traffic court a short walk away no doubt provides plenty of customers. I was one of them, and spotted other jurors in the place.

Open daily, Lindo Oaxaca has survived in that drab neighborhood for five years. The front of the building is a garish pink, so you can’t miss it.  On one side is an open kitchen. The counter at the back is piled with crusty chunks of chicharron and breads  brought from Oaxaca, the same breads that you would find in the Mercado 20 de Noviembre or in the huge Abastos market, according to the label.

A small figure of the miracle-working Virgin of Juquila presides over the dining area, where the tables are covered with bright Oaxacan cloths.  Photos pinned to her mantle show young people whose needs have been placed in her care. A tall slim cross and a vase of fresh flowers stand beside her.

Run by people from Oaxaca city, the restaurant offers four types of  mole (judging by the red mole served over chips, they’re pretty good), clayudas, entomatadas, enfrijoladas, memelas and other typical Oaxacan dishes.  To drink there is  chilacayota, a pale brown Oaxacan agua fresca that contains strands of the gourd from which it is made.

Specials the day I found the place were barbacoa tacos and an ornate combination of grilled nopal cactus, Oaxacan meats and cheese. The meats arranged on top of the cactus were cecina (marinated pork), tasajo (salted beef) and several small, spicy Oaxacan chorizos, which were chewy at the edges and soft inside, rather like fine-grained meatloaf. A layer of melted Oaxacan cheese (quesillo) covered the meats like a pale yellow serape.

Black beans, rice and chewy handmade tortillas added up to a lunch filling enough to get me through a long afternoon of tiresome jury procedures.  I would have gone back, but, alas,  I didn’t make the cut for the jury.

Lindo Oaxaca restaurant, 322 E. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90015.  Tel: (213) 749-8723.

Mexican Food to Dream About

A friend from out of town wanted to go to lunch. Nothing unusual about that, except that this friend lives in Singapore, where food is a national passion. Furthermore, she is a celebrated cook, has appeared as a guest chef at the Beard House in New York and represents the Singapore government at food conferences all over the place.

What could I find that would impress her? Not much, I thought. But, well, what about Mexican food, really good Mexican food, the kind that is hard to find even here in Los Angeles? And so we went to La Casita Mexicana in Bell.

There chefs Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu produce the sort of elegant, imaginative dishes that you might find in high-end restaurants in Mexico City. Their white chocolate, cantaloupe and blackberry moles are better than dreamy—if you are fortunate enough to go on a day when these are on hand.

Their chiles en nogada are as good as any in Puebla, Mexico, where that dish was created. Their handcrafted mole poblano is extraordinary, loaded with layers of flavors and such uncommon things as cacao beans.

And where else you would find Aztec cheese—a grilled banana leaf package that contains four Mexican cheeses--queso fresco, panela, Oaxaca and cotija-- along with  mushrooms, cactus, poblano chile and a little of that powerfully scented Mexican herb, epazote. It’s a wonderful combination to spoon onto La Casita’s handmade tortillas.                                              

Sure we had chiles en nogada and mole poblano, as well as chicken in green and red pipian sauces.  We also ate simple but very tasty cotija cheese enchiladas. And cecina, thin-cut beef  laden with tomatoes and onions in smoky chipotle sauce.

We started with tortilla soup and ended with three desserts. Freshly fried, tender churros contained a surprise, a thin layer of soft, melted cajeta. Yellow guavas were bathed with rompope, the Mexican liqueur that resembles eggnog. And rice pudding arrived in a crisp flour tortilla wrap, surrounded with creamy pecan sauce. No wonder that dessert, envueltos de arroz con leche y crema de nuez, wound up on the cover of Ciudad magazine.

My friend, Violet Oon, was properly impressed. And so was I, but then I’m always impressed when I eat at La Casita Mexicana. 

La Casita Mexicana, 4030 E. Gage Ave., Bell, CA 90201. Tel: (323) 773-1898. 

A Great Dish--Chiles en Nogada

Rush to La Casita Mexicana while pomegranates are in season in order to taste the restaurant’s glorious chiles en nogada (stuffed chiles in nut sauce).

This historic dish from Puebla, Mexico, was created to celebrate Mexico’s independence from Spain. The green chile, white nut sauce and sprinkle of red pomegranate seeds on top represent the three colors of the Mexican flag.

I’ve never had a better version than that at La Casita. There, fat poblano chiles are stuffed with ground pork, chopped pecans, biznaga, (candied cactus), raisins, plantains and fresh and dried pears and apples.

The creamy sauce combines thick Mexican crema, queso fresco (fresh cheese), pecans and enough sugar to make it delicately sweet. The restaurant freezes pomegranate seeds in order to serve the dish all year, but it is at its best with the fresh seeds. In California, the pomegranate season runs from September through January.

Chiles en nogada are $11.95 for one or $15.95 for two, accompanied by soup and rice, at La Casita Mexicana, 4030 E. Gage Ave., Bell, CA 90201. Tel: (323) 773-1898.