Holy Mole

At Juan's Restaurante in Baldwin Park, the "pre-Hispanic" food Is hit or miss. But oh, that mole!

Comments (0) By Besha Rodell Thursday, Sep 13 2012

Try the cactus mole over the enchiladas de la casa rather than with the slightly dry chicken breast, and ask for samples of the off-sweet tamarind and the murky, haunting pistachio rather than eating them over the salmon they're presented with as entrées. You can scoop the samples up with Juan's very good corn chips rather than bothering with overcooked fish.

Juan's makes all its own masa products — both corn- and cactus-based — plus 12 moles and a roster of labor-intensive desserts. You want to adore a restaurant that strives for such heights. It's a restaurant with all the right goals, an obvious labor of love.

PHOTO BY ANNE FISHBEIN

Traditional mole poblano

Location Info

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Juan's Restaurante

4291 Maine Ave.
Baldwin Park, CA 91706

Category: Restaurant > Mexican

Region: Central San Gabriel Valley

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Now if it could just take on a little less and keep its efforts on the strong suits: on the agua frescas, the delicious empanadas, and those fantastic, varied moles. If Mondragon could perhaps put more than one waitress on the floor on busy nights, for her sake as well as ours. If he could pare back and focus, Juan's just might be able to live up to its own ambitions.

See more of Anne Fishbein's photography from Holy Mole.