La Casita Mexicana

101 Best restaurants of Los Angeles

@latimes

"#95 When chefs Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu opened La Casita Mexicana in Bell two decades ago, the restaurant helped shift the conversation about Mexican cooking in Los Angeles beyond tacos and combo platters and into haute cuisine territory. This is where a generation of Angelenos sampled the breadth of regional Mexican cooking: chile rellenos stuffed with mushrooms, nopales and epazote; enchiladas bathed in crema de flor de calabaza; white dinner plates drizzled with dense, 40-something-ingredient moles. La Casita’s chile en nogada is flawless, and the banana-leaf-wrapped cochinita pibil is every shade of sweet, bright and savory. At the heart of the menu are the superlative moles: two nutty pipián versions and a thick, dark mole poblano that unspools elegantly with sweetness and spice. Do try the chamorro de res adobada, a fragrant, chile-soaked beef shank. It’s essentially osso bucco from the highlands of Jalisco. Beer and Mexican wine. Lot parking in rear. Credit cards accepted."

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