A Fiesta From the Land of Seven Molés

Last week, I went out to lunch with a food writer visiting from New York. He took me to a Mexican cafe in the mid-Wilshire area. After watching me study the menu in silence for five minutes, he finally asked, “Shall I order for us?” I nodded. I was too embarrassed to speak.

Imagine if you went into a coffee shop similar to Denny’s, opened the menu and saw items like fry bread, tamaya blue corn pancakes, red corn hominy with pisole stew, venison summer sausage and grape-stuffed pheasant. These are dishes from native American tribes of our country.

I speak Spanish, have eaten in a hundred different Mexican restaurants, travelled to Mexico, but I was flummoxed by the menu at Guelaguetza. A dazzling array of menu items include specialties like clayuda con molé , enmoladas con tesajo, memelas, nopal zapoteco and chapulines a la mexicana.

The chapulines were described as “spicy chapulines cooked in Mexican style.” The clayuda con molé was “a clayuda spread with black molé and cheese.”

We started with the clayuda which turned out to be a large, crispy, thin tortilla spread with a rich dark paste of chocolate, nuts, spices and chilies, sprinkled with white cheese and finely shredded lettuce. We barely made a dent in it, so I took it home and discovered clayuda re-heats wonderfully. Next came a beef short rib stew in a yellow chili broth with potatoes and squash, along with a chicken molé dish.

Later, I returned to the cafe for a copy of the menu and the latest edition of El Oaxaqueno, a Spanish language newspaper. I went to the library to unravel the mystery of the unfamiliar cuisine.

Guelaguetza serves authentic Oaxacan cuisine. Over 3 million people live in Oaxaca, one of the southern states in Mexico. The majority of the population are indigenous people. Ethnolingists have identified 16 different tribes among the 570 municipalities in the state: the Amuzgo, Chatino, Chinanteco, Chocho, Chontal, Cuicateco, Huave, Ixcateco, Mazateco, Mixe, Mixteco, Náhuatl, Triqui, Zapoteco, Zoque and the Popoloca.

The Olmecs, the first great civilization of Mexico, organized before the Mayan and Aztec empires, were centered in Oaxaco. The native people of the area transformed the fruits of their agricultural labors into a complex cuisine, thousands of years before the Spanish arrived.

According to the “Oxford History of Mexico,” the agricultural southern tribes fared a bit better than the nomadic northern tribes, when the Spanish arrived. Colonization brought great suffering to all the indigenous people of Mexico, but in the south the native peoples were given some rights over their property and their villages continued to be ruled by tribal leaders. Over time, European influences crept into the Oaxacan diet, but many specialties survived.

Oaxaca is called the land of the seven molés, each a differently colored and flavored sauce, blended from chilies, nuts, spices and sometimes chocolate. Even though Mexican coffees are highly rated, the preferred breakfast drink is chocolate and the best beans come from Oaxaca. Some families in the state select their beans at market, remove the husks and grind the beans by hand. Chocolate imparts a sweet, deep earthy flavor to the black molé.

If you are truly adventurous, I would highly recommend Guelaguetza’s central, larger restaurant on Olympic Boulevard where most servers speak English and parking is free in the adjoining lot. The food is rustic. It’s presented on large plates in huge quantities. If you go in a party of only two, you can’t sample enough dishes. With another couple, or your extended family, you can order a mixture of the more familiar dishes like carnitas or chicken taquitos with guacamole as well as tamales, goat tacos, red molé enchiladas and cactus salad.

Molés, the national dish of Mexico, are fiesta fare, suitable for festive occasions. Many Oaxacan families celebrate their birthdays at Guelaguetza. Maria Monterrubio, who with her husband Fernando López owns the restaurant, sent me a photograph of the kitchen staff as they sang “Las Mañanitas” or “Happy Birthday” to their fellow cook, Daniel López. Maria extends a warm welcome to Foothill residents, “Come celebrate with us, soon,” she said.

Appoint a designated driver first, and then your party can experiment with Mezcal cocktails, vividly named for scorpions and tigers. Tikal, a marimba band, entertains during the evening on Saturday and at lunch on Sunday. The Trio Mexicante plays in the evening, Wednesday through Friday and at lunch on Saturdays.

Locally, some Mexican restaurants feature a taste of Oaxaca on their menus. Joselito’s in Montrose and Tujunga offer a beautiful enchilada with black molé: enchilada almondine. It’s my favorite dish and the molé compares favorably with Guelaguetza. Corey Grijalva, son of Joselito’s owners, confirmed that the sauce includes Mexican chocolate.

In La Cañada, at Pepe’s, owner Victor Bugarin, checked with his chef to assure me that they too use Mexican chocolate in their version of chicken with black molé.

At El Charro in Montrose, chicken with black molé is a chalkboard special offered most evenings, except for Tuesdays.

If you’d like to make chicken molé at home, you can buy, or borrow from the library “Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen.” In his chapter on classic fiesta food, you’ll find the chicken black molé recipe. He writes that he collected black molé recipes for years that yielded mediocre results.

“Not until my favorite chile seller, Panchita, in the Oaxaca market, really explained the details and her proportions could I get it right.” After you gather the 27 ingredients and study the three page recipe carefully, you’ll be all set. I, however, will purchase only the Mexican chocolate, will whip up a frothy drink and pick up the phone to make reservations.

Mexican hot chocolate

Coco beans were once the currency in the region of Oaxaca. The best beans still come from that area.

1 cup water | 2 oz. Mexican chocolate (Ibarra brand is available in local grocery stores) or 1 square | unsweetened chocolate | 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon | 2 drops vanilla extract

1. Chop the chocolate into small bits. Heat the water and chocolate in a small sauce pan, stirring until the chocolate has mostly dissolved. Add cinnamon and vanilla extract. Stir.

2. Liquid should be steaming but not quite boiling. Remove from heat. Whisk until frothy or use blender to froth. A few bits of chocolate will remain undissolved at the bottom. Pour carefully into a cup. Avoid adding the last bit of grittiness in bottom of pan or blender. Makes one serving. Substitute milk for a less authentic, but creamier drink.