Monte Alban (West Los Angeles)
food: 5/5
experience: 5/5
overall: 5/5
I am officially a fan of chicken mole. Yummeh yummeh moleh.
Had it the first time forever at Monte Alban. I only have one other example to compare it to now (Roberta's in Sacramento) but out of the two, Alban wins by a mile. Their mole negro sauce tastes like creamy, savory, sweet, cocoa-y... I dunno how to describe it man you just gotta try it. If you're in LA and you want mo-lay go to Mont-ay. It is their specialty after all. You can get it on chicken, beef, tamales, burritos, you name it.
Monte Alban specially makes handmade corn tortillas which sucks for me because I've developed a severe reaction to nearly everything with corn in it. They use them to make their empanadas which actually look like quesadillas but are supposed to be delicious, thanks in no small part to the tortilla-I-can't-have.
According to my dining partner they don't taste much different than typical corn tortillas. I am very skeptical of that claim based on looks alone.
Naturally, their corn chips are also really good (so I hear): warm, crisp, fresh and better than the standard bagged ones most restaurants seem to serve. I do know their salsa tastes fresh. Menu says they even have mole nachos! Swoon.
First time I tried barbacoa was here, too. I got a barbacoa taco. That means "goat" for all you gringos out there. Goat tacos! I know, crazy. I subbed a flour tortilla. If the flour tortillas are any indication, their corn tortillas are probably delicious.
This taco as you can see was more like a burrito. Goat is kind of tough and gamey in flavor. They seasoned it well so it was nice and savory. Not too salty or anything. I was so enjoying the burrito I forgot to add the sauces, but I tried them after and they were good (spicy). The beans on the side had a little cube of Oaxacan cheese which was a nice touch (and tasty, as is all Mexican variety of cheese). Oaxacan food uses black beans instead of pinto which I prefer.
On this occasion we were feeling a bit heated from the LA traffic so we decided to get a cocktail to cool things down. This is the Guelaguetza:
I didn't see a picture of this cocktail, only ordered it based on its ingredients (orange juice, pineapple juice, lime, grapefruit juice), but if I had to choose one based on pure visual appeal this would be the winner. Every layer tasted different and all but the top lime one was great. The pineapple was a nice touch. Mezcal, which I'd never had before, was way too strong for us (I was coughing!) so we didn't finish it. The owner was super cool and took it off our tab. Thanks, dude.
On our last night in LA, I couldn't resist but to try their mole again just to remind myself how amazing it was. They have four types: negro, coloradito (red), amarillo (yellow), and verde (green). I'm not a fan of any kind of green sauce but I wanted to know the difference so they were kind enough to oblige me a sample platter.
The negro tastes like traditional mole with cocoa, slightly sweet. If you haven't had mole you just have to try it, the flavor can't be described in words. Coloradito tastes similar but without the cocoa tones. And amarillo tastes a bit similar to enchilada sauce, but very, very spicy. I decided on this one.
They really drench their dishes in sauce. And they serve them with white rice so as to soak up the flavor of said sauce. Yum.
They also offer traditional desserts like fried plantains which I still have never tried but are probably amazing. They sure look like it anyway.
We chatted with Memo a bit after our visit and he told us about the small town of Oaxaca. It's in Southern Mexico near Central America, which is why Oaxacan cuisine is different than stereotypical Mexican cuisine. Very cool guy. He shook our hands before we left.
A cutely styled place that's extremely authentic, run by actual Mexican people who couldn't be more chill. Oaxacan food officially gets two thumbs up from this girl (picture my thumbs pointing at me).
experience: 5/5
overall: 5/5
I am officially a fan of chicken mole. Yummeh yummeh moleh.
Had it the first time forever at Monte Alban. I only have one other example to compare it to now (Roberta's in Sacramento) but out of the two, Alban wins by a mile. Their mole negro sauce tastes like creamy, savory, sweet, cocoa-y... I dunno how to describe it man you just gotta try it. If you're in LA and you want mo-lay go to Mont-ay. It is their specialty after all. You can get it on chicken, beef, tamales, burritos, you name it.
Monte Alban specially makes handmade corn tortillas which sucks for me because I've developed a severe reaction to nearly everything with corn in it. They use them to make their empanadas which actually look like quesadillas but are supposed to be delicious, thanks in no small part to the tortilla-I-can't-have.
According to my dining partner they don't taste much different than typical corn tortillas. I am very skeptical of that claim based on looks alone.
Naturally, their corn chips are also really good (so I hear): warm, crisp, fresh and better than the standard bagged ones most restaurants seem to serve. I do know their salsa tastes fresh. Menu says they even have mole nachos! Swoon.
First time I tried barbacoa was here, too. I got a barbacoa taco. That means "goat" for all you gringos out there. Goat tacos! I know, crazy. I subbed a flour tortilla. If the flour tortillas are any indication, their corn tortillas are probably delicious.
This taco as you can see was more like a burrito. Goat is kind of tough and gamey in flavor. They seasoned it well so it was nice and savory. Not too salty or anything. I was so enjoying the burrito I forgot to add the sauces, but I tried them after and they were good (spicy). The beans on the side had a little cube of Oaxacan cheese which was a nice touch (and tasty, as is all Mexican variety of cheese). Oaxacan food uses black beans instead of pinto which I prefer.
On this occasion we were feeling a bit heated from the LA traffic so we decided to get a cocktail to cool things down. This is the Guelaguetza:
I didn't see a picture of this cocktail, only ordered it based on its ingredients (orange juice, pineapple juice, lime, grapefruit juice), but if I had to choose one based on pure visual appeal this would be the winner. Every layer tasted different and all but the top lime one was great. The pineapple was a nice touch. Mezcal, which I'd never had before, was way too strong for us (I was coughing!) so we didn't finish it. The owner was super cool and took it off our tab. Thanks, dude.
On our last night in LA, I couldn't resist but to try their mole again just to remind myself how amazing it was. They have four types: negro, coloradito (red), amarillo (yellow), and verde (green). I'm not a fan of any kind of green sauce but I wanted to know the difference so they were kind enough to oblige me a sample platter.
The negro tastes like traditional mole with cocoa, slightly sweet. If you haven't had mole you just have to try it, the flavor can't be described in words. Coloradito tastes similar but without the cocoa tones. And amarillo tastes a bit similar to enchilada sauce, but very, very spicy. I decided on this one.
They really drench their dishes in sauce. And they serve them with white rice so as to soak up the flavor of said sauce. Yum.
They also offer traditional desserts like fried plantains which I still have never tried but are probably amazing. They sure look like it anyway.
We chatted with Memo a bit after our visit and he told us about the small town of Oaxaca. It's in Southern Mexico near Central America, which is why Oaxacan cuisine is different than stereotypical Mexican cuisine. Very cool guy. He shook our hands before we left.
A cutely styled place that's extremely authentic, run by actual Mexican people who couldn't be more chill. Oaxacan food officially gets two thumbs up from this girl (picture my thumbs pointing at me).
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