Guelaguetza

[rjwong]

Guelaguetza; 3014 W. Olympic Blvd.; Los Angeles, CA 90006; (213) 427-0608

Guelaguetza (GEH-luh-GEH-tzuh) is not your typical Mexican restaurant. There is a region in Mexico called Oaxaca (wah-HAH-kuh). And here's auténtica comida oaxaquena, or authentic Oaxacan food:

tortilla chips with a mildly spicy, slightly sweet, cooked salsa

botana de molotes: fried corn dough filled with potato chunks and chorizo

horchata: cinnamony drink with a fruit puree and chopped nuts

mole rojo con pechuga de pollo: red mole with chicken breast

nopal zapotecto: grilled cactus with beef, vegetables and Oaxacan string cheese

Chapulines a la mexicana: spicy chapulines cooked with chopped tomatoes & onions, topped with Oaxacan string cheese

tostada mixta (tostada with mixed seafood); empanada de huitlacoche (big, handmade tortilla folded and filled with huitlacoche); chapulines a la mexicana; clayuda de choriqueso (big tortilla with pork fat, Oaxacan string cheese and shredded chorizo)

flan

platanos fritos: fried plantains topped with sour cream and walnuts

I like the place. By the way, the restaurant serves four kinds of mole. The red mole, I like better than the black mole I had previously. The black mole has a rather smoky, almost burnt taste to it. The red mole is not spicy. In fact, all the food I had there isn't really spicy at all, perhaps a little more subtle. The place is huge, and apparently gets very busy with large families coming in during the weekends.

[dfunghi]

They have a sister restaurant in West L.A. on Palms and Sepulveda. Some say not as good. I disagree and have found the food to be about the same since I find the food varries from time to time anyway at both locales. This is a place we take out of towners when they visit and they never stop talking about it.

[eje]

Looks good!

Makes me wish our local home style Mexican place (Mom is Cooking) was still around.

Did you know what Chalupines were when you ordered them?

I'd try them; but, there's no way I could convince my wife to order a whole plate!

[Chris Cognac]

Wow nice pics Russell....its making me hungry....

[rjwong]

Did you know what Chalupines were when you ordered them? 

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Except for the mole rojo, my friends did the ordering.

The chapulines were slightly spicier and definitely crunchier than the nopales.

The nopales wasn't bad. I always get weirded out because I see it in its uncooked stage with all those needles in the grocery store.

[eje]

The nopales wasn't bad. I always get weirded out because I see it in its uncooked stage with all those needles in the grocery store.

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The cactus weirds you out more than the grasshoppers?!

Well, safety first, my friend, safety first!

(I was repotting a cactus last week, and it certainly bit me harder than any grasshopper!)

[BarbaraY]

Oaxacan Chorizo is the best I have ever tasted. Breakfast on the plaza may have helped increase the pleasure.

Clayuda with thin slices of roast pork is heavenly.

[rjwong]

The cactus weirds you out more than the grasshoppers?!

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Actually, those aren't grasshoppers. They look more like crickets, but who's asking anyways?

[Chris Amirault]

Fantastic stuff, Russell. Did that horchata have hibiscus in it? Or was it some other reddish-purple fruit of some kind?

[rjwong]

According to the menu, it says "cactus fruit puree." I probably wouldn't know a hibicus if it hit me.

[Chris Amirault]

Oh, cool: that's prickly pear cactus fruit purée. Click for a source. Hibiscus is the uber-red blossom of the namesake plant, which is dried and then used for teas and other drinks.

[Papaya]

I ate at Guelaguetza last week while visiting L.A. (the one on Eighth Street, I think). I lived in Oaxaca for four months this fall so I was really excited to have Oaxacan food again, and interested to see how it compared to what I had in Oaxaca. Unfortunately we weren't very hungry so my friend and I ordered an ensalada de nopalitos (cactus paddle salad) and tacos alambre (beef, onions and bell peppers topped with quesillo (the Oaxacan string cheese seen in the pictures above)) to share. This was a good call, as the portions were really big.

Both dishes were good and very close to what I was familiar with. The nopales salad had nopales cut in strips with chopped tomato, onion and cilantro - pretty standard, I think. It was good but not amazing (and I'm a big nopales fan). I think it may have needed more lime juice (which could have easily been added at the table), but the leftovers the next day were actually better. The alambre was a little different than what I was used to having at taco stands in Oaxaca in that the meat and veggies here were cut in long strips, kind of like fajitas, rather than chopped up small. I think the alambre I had in Oaxaca also often (if not always) had some chopped bacon in there too. The flavor was very similar though. The only thing that would have made it better would be if the quesillo was melted more.

Overall I liked the restaurant a lot. The menu had a lot of other things that I would have loved to try, and I saw other customers having tlayudas and tortas that looked great. I just wish I lived nearby!

[Tom]

We've not found Oaxacan food here in Philadelphia, so we're excited to be coming to LA next week, staying near family in Marina del Rey. Guelaguetza has been highly recommended, but I don't know which one is better (and, ideally, closer to where we're staying.)

Would you suggest the Olympic Blvd location, the W. 8th Street location or the Huntington Park location? Or even a Palms Blvd location that appears online, but not on the website Restaurante Guelaguetza Do you recommend making reservations?

Or is there an equally good Oaxacan or other Mexican restaurant near Marina del Rey?

Thanks!

Edited November 30, 2006 by Tom (log)

[JFLinLA]

We've not found Oaxacan food here in Philadelphia, so we're excited to be coming to LA next week, staying near family in Marina del Rey.  Guelaguetza has been highly recommended, but I don't know which one is better (and, ideally, closer to where we're staying.)

Would you suggest the Olympic Blvd location, the W. 8th Street location or the Huntington Park location? Or even a Palms Blvd location that appears online, but not on the website Restaurante Guelaguetza  Do you recommend making reservations?

Or is there an equally good Oaxacan or other Mexican restaurant near Marina del Rey?

Thanks!

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The Palms Boulevard location is closest to Marina del Rey. It's in a strip mall and I can't imagine reservations are necessary.

[philadining]

I've only been to the 8th street one, so I can't compare them, but I find it hard to imagine anything tastier than the food we got there!

For future reference, I'd love to know if the food is pretty consistent between locations. What appears to the the official website only mentions the 8th street and Olympic Blvd restaurants.

I feel your pain Tom, there's recently been some decent Mexican food to be found in Philly, but nothing specifically Oaxacan that I can find, and no moles even vaguely as complex or delicious as I had at Guelaguetza. So, go while you're out there! And report back...

[russ parsons]

there's another good oaxacan restaurant in venice, right on pico (next to vidiots, if you know where that is). It's called Texate. I wouldn't get in a "which one's better" argument (though I will stand for the original Guelaguetza over the others). But it is a really good alternative if you're tired of the others. they make a mean brains quesadilla.

[LarsTheo]

There's another Oaxacan restaurant even closer to Marina Del Rey, El Saśon Oaxaqueño, 12131 Washington Place (Grandview), Mar Vista. It's in a little minimall and is very inexpensive but popular with the local Oaxacans. Excellent clayudas. Also in Mar Vista, Valle de Oaxaca, 3809 Grandview Blvd. (Venice Blvd) - great, and very inexpensive, huarache and molotes.

I've been to Oaxaca many times (mostly in the late 1970s and early 80s) and never cared for the food there because I don't like most molés (especially the sweet ones), but when I went back a couple of years ago, I found a much better selection of restaurants there - and the prices were much higher. I prefer Yucatecan food myself. I do like some of the dishes in Guelaguetza, but I have not yet been to Texate, which is in Santa Monica (not Venice) on Pico at 4th.