Casita Mexicana

Now Open: Corazon y Miel in Bell

Eduardo Ruiz, formerly of Animal, introduced the city of Bell to Corazon y Miel (Spanish for "Heart and Honey") last Friday with partners Travis Hoffacker and Robin Chopra. Ruiz created a menu based on influences from Central and South American cuisines, in addition to recipes inspired by family and ... More >>

5 Essential Mexican Restaurants in Los Angeles

Our 99 Essential L.A. Restaurants issue came out last week, and we're highlighting a few categories drawing from the list. Today: Mexican restaurants. This isn't every single Mexican spot on the list (there are a ton!), so make sure you check out the whole thing, but here are five of our favorites ... More >>

La Casita Mexicana: 99 Essential Restaurants 2013

Top 4 Weekend Food Events: Cocktail Competition, USC Fair Food Fest, L.A. Weekly's Plate Lucques Cassoulet Night

Cocktail Competition Who can make the tastiest red-colored cocktail? In a benefit for Go Red for Women, an American Heart Association initiative, bartenders from Marina del Rey restaurants Café del Rey, Hal's Bar and Grill, Chart House, James Beach and Tony P's will compete to create the best vodka ... More >>

Plate: LA Weekly's 5th Annual Food and Wine Event is This Sunday

Now that the Oscars are over, it's time to go eat something. Maybe a lot of things. Fortunately for you, we've put a great deal of food and drink in one place -- the Peterson Automotive Museum, where this coming Sunday afternoon, you can eat as much as you possibly can over a four-hour period withou ... More >>

La Casita Mexicana in Bell Expanding

La Casita Mexicana, the celebrated Mexican restaurant in Bell owned by chefs Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu, is expanding to take over the space next door, which used to be a barber shop. The expansion will connect the restaurant with the store the chefs also own two doors down, La Tiendit ... More >>

Top 6 Weekend Food Events: ''Save the Waves" Fundraiser, Ray Garcia Lobster Demo, Food Art, Mexican Market Tour, Rum Tasting Downtown L.A. Dishcrawl

"Save the Waves" Fundraiser Support the Long Beach chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, an environmental advocacy group, with a multicourse, seafood-centric dinner from local chefs. The menu includes albacore tartare (from David LeFevre and Ray Hayashi of Manhattan Beach Post), smoked trout with kum ... More >>

Plate: LA Weekly's 5th Annual Food and Wine Event on March 3

For all of you who drive by the Petersen Automotive Museum, not to check out the cars but to reminisce about all the gluttony that has gone on there in previous years, it's time to mark your calendars. Once again, the car palace will be the site of LA Weekly's annual food and wine event, formerly kn ... More >>

Top 4 Weekend Events: Taste of Mexico, Movember Stash Bash, Naya Anniversary Party Holiday Beerfest

2nd Annual Taste of Mexico L.A.'s top Mexican chefs and restaurateurs will offer samples of their most popular dishes, with appearances from the folks at La Casita Mexicana, Guelaguetza, Rivera and Frida's. Cocktails from Pablo Moix, vino from Baja wineries and live mariachi bands complete the festi ... More >>

10 Best Moles in Los Angeles

Let's count the reasons we love mole. It's rich and intense. Warm and comforting. Spicy, yet sweet and often savory. A seamless blend of 20 to 40 (or more) ingredients that have been toasted, roasted, ground, blended and cooked. Radiant and colorful. A mix of Old World spices with New World chiles a ... More >>

AltaMed's In Their Own Words II A Recipe for Pescado a la Veracruzana

What's your favorite Mexican restaurant? It just might be one of the 17 in AltaMed's new book, In Their Own Words II, by Sergio C. Muñoz. Rather than a restaurant guide, the book tells how Mexican cuisine flourished in and around Los Angeles in the words of the restaurant owners who made it happe ... More >>

Finally: L.A. Gets Mexican Food Worthy of Mexico's Grand Tradition

L.A.'s Mexican Cuisine Renaissance Continues: From La Casita Mexicana to Teresitas to Seta

If, for some reason, you still think Los Angeles is still lagging behind other major cities in the sophistication of our Mexican cuisine, maybe you haven't been getting out much. The city has been going through a renaissance in the last few years, with highly talented chefs bringing the food they gr ... More >>

Chefs' Worst Kitchen Injuries: More Fun Behind the Stoves

Cooking can be dangerous, as anyone who has spent much time in a kitchen can attest to. Now consider the hazards of a career surrounded by flames, super heated liquids and sharp objects. So we queried some notable area chefs (Ricardo Zarate! Michael Voltaggio! Eric Greenspan!) for the stories behin ... More >>

La Casita Mexicana Introduces Its Bottled Mole Paste

If you make mole from scratch, it takes hours, right? Or maybe days, considering all the ingredients you have to assemble, toast, grind, combine and simmer. Well, what about two years? That's how long it took Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu of La Casita Mexicana to perfect a bottled versio ... More >>

Rocio Camacho's Latest: Mole de los Dioses

F. FriesemaJonagold apples​Mole -- we've all had mole. Los Angeles may be the best place to eat mole outside Oaxaca and maybe the D.F., a bastion of both Oaxacan and Poblano styles of the ultracomplex sauce. If you can't find the famous seven moles of Oaxaca here, you're not looking. But ever ... More >>

The Gold Standard 2012: Save The Date, Start Fasting

Anne Fishbeinglasses at the 2011 Gold Standard​It's that time of year again. No, not movie award time -- note to foodists: you may want to bring a bag of macarons to The Artist, just to keep yourself awake -- but time to gear up for the 2012 Gold Standard, that glorious event in which Jonathan ... More >>

Last Night: 2011 Gold Standard [Photos]

"I can't hold my stomach in anymore," we heard someone, a man, exclaim as he rested between bites at yesterday afternoon's Gold Standard. The third annual tasting event, held once again at Petersen Auto Museum, featured dozens of local restaurants with dishes on offer ranging from the baroque wi ... More >>

Last Night: The Drinks of Gold Standard 2011

B. Mesirow​ We are well aware that yesterday's Gold Standard was all about the food, even in the week of the cocktail. However, those of you who overlooked the various adult beverages offered at the event missed a rare and awesome opportunity to drink large quantities of high class, top quali ... More >>

Horchata Fight: La Casita Mexicana vs. Tinga

People drink horchata for different reasons. For some, it's a soothing, sweet beverage, consumed all by itself, or with a plate of Mexican food. For others, it is a replenishing elixir, consumed after last call, at a late-night taco truck, alongside a foil-wrapped burrito stuffed full of carne asada ... More >>

[Updated] The Gold Standard 2011: So Much Food, So Little Time

​ Update: The Weekly just announced a special presale for this year's Gold Standard tickets, starting today. Save $10 on both regular and VIP tickets. Enter promo code GOLD 11 when purchasing online or calling 1-888-878-9651. Discount available only until 10 a.m. on Thursday, January 20. The ... More >>

The Top 20 Mexican Restaurants In and Around L.A.

B. Hansenchefs awaiting awards​ The latest list of best Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles comes from Sabores Auténticos de Mexico (Authentic Flavors of Mexico), a non-profit founded to promote authentic cooking outside of Mexico. The awards were presented Tuesday at a cocktail party and din ... More >>

Tlayudas & Tequila at Taste of Mexico

Guzzle & Nosh​ Los Angeles, which seems to offer every iteration and regional culinary specialty of Mexico, may not need a festival like Taste of Mexico, but between need and desire lies a vast gulf. In this case, it's filled with tequila. And mescal and beer. And Oaxacan tlayudas, Guerreran c ... More >>

Your Weekend in Food: Dec. 3-6

​A roundup of food events happening in Los Angeles this weekend, December 3-6, 2010. First Fridays: There may or may not be food trucks at this installment of the popular street event, held the first Friday of each month. Fri., Dec. 3, 6-10 p.m. Abbot Kinney. (Venice) Eat My Blog Charity Ba ... More >>

Holy Mole: "Taste of Mexico" Coming in December

Guelaguetza.com​There's been much to say recently about what constitutes authentic Mexican food in Los Angeles, and who's bringing it. But perhaps we'll get our answer at next month's Taste of Mexico event, which celebrates Mexico's bicentennial via its cuisine. Four L.A. restaurants - ... More >>

"Buen Provecho" Tamale Cooking Class at MOLAA Mr. Gold's Two Cents

phil_g/flickr​As part of an ongoing series that celebrates Latin American cooking, the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) will host a cooking class this Saturday, November 6th, that will teach participants how to put together the perfect tamale. And what does a perfect tamale look like to J ... More >>

Best Masa: And Maybe Tortillas and Pork Rinds Too

N. GalutenTortilla making from fresh masa at Amapola​ Eat a tortilla made from real, proper masa (corn dough), and you will immediately understand what is so terrible about those dry, factory-made discs you find sitting on a shelf in the supermarket. Ramiro Arvizu, one of the chefs and owners ... More >>

La Casita Mexicana Adding a Store: La Tiendita Set To Open In 3 Weeks

N. GalutenLa Casita Mexicana's little shop, La Tiendita​ After spending the last two years trying to get it off the ground, La Casita Mexicana will finally be opening the market add-on to their restaurant. Things took longer than expected for chef/owners Ramiro Arvizu and Jaime Martin del Cam ... More >>

East L.A. Meets Napa at Union Station a Gazpacho Recipe

Barbara HansenMary Carmen Salas of La Parrilla at East L.A. Meets Napa​All the Mexican food you could ever dream of eating will be yours for the taking at AltaMed's 5th annual East L.A. Meets Napa benefit July 9. That evening, Union Station's huge courtyard will be jammed with tables where lo ... More >>

After Topolobampo

Rick Bayless brings his Chicago Mex to Red O

La Casita's Latino Goodie Baskets

Barbara HansenLa Casita Mexicana chef-owners Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu​ A tisket, a tasket, what's in that basket? Obleas, glorias, chiclosos, alegrias, pepitorias, ates, cajeta, piloncillo, tamarindo, canela and much, much more. Even if you don't know what these are, you can e ... More >>

L.A. Bloggers Judge Top Chef Masters A Viewing Party at The Edison

Top Chef MastersMake room for some food bloggers at Judges' Table​ L.A. chefs like Mark Peel, Susan Feniger and Ludovic Lefebvre aren't the only locals showing up on Top Chef Masters this season. Wednesday night, the judges' table will get a little bit bigger with L.A. food bloggers Bill Espa ... More >>

Huitlacoche: Your Fungus, My Dinner

An interesting article hit the AP wire yesterday about huitlacoche, a Mexican delicacy often called "corn smut," or occasionally, "Mexican truffle." The article reported on findings in the Food Chemistry journal about the health benefits of this tasty, odd-looking treat. In the U.S., huitlacoche has ... More >>

The Mexican Binge

When a visitor wants nothing but

Into the Abyss

Another week in the life of Jonathan Gold's belly

Web Surfing: A Roundup of Posts from L.A. Food Blogs and Newsletters

-- Celebrating the Marino family and their restaurants. [e*starLA] -- Goody's in San Gabriel shutters. [LA Observed] -- Haitian Libations Charity Event on February 6th at Vertical Wine Bistro. [Mattatouille] -- Robbie Burns' Address to a Haggis. [Deep End Dining] -- Ruth Reichl, The Movie? (Seco ... More >>

No Bell? Jar, Then

For the best brunch in town, no scrimping

Ask Mr. Gold: No Bell? Jar, Then. For the Best Brunch in Town, No Scrimping

Photo credit: Anne FishbeinMr. Gold, with dim sum menuDear Mr. Gold: The head honcho is coming to town, and wants to treat me to the best brunch in Los Angeles. No scrimping. What would you suggest? --Miss Chiffonade, Silver Lake Dear Miss Chiffonade: No scrimping? The usual suspects may not quite ... More >>

GUELAGUETZA: Romance and Salsa

In search of the perfect spot to impress a gal.

Ask Mr. Gold: Romantic Mexican, In Search of the Perfect Spot to Impress his Gal

Photo credit: Anne FishbeinMr. Gold, with dim sum menuDear Mr. Gold: Could you please recommend one or two outstanding Mexican food restaurants in the L.A. area. I am sick to death of El Cholo, and I have what you could describe as a special date coming up. Lovell, Los Angeles Dear Lovell: Mexican ... More >>

Roadtrip to Tijuana: Why All Your Foodblogs are Posting From Mexico

Thanks to the tireless work of Mexican food expert and blogger Bill Esparza--in conjunction with the Tijuana Tourism Board Tijuana Convention & Visitors Bureau--a group of bloggers, food writers, chefs and restaurateurs headed south last week on a mission of exploration and eating, to consume some o ... More >>

Sin Carne: Looking for Mexican Vegetarian Cooking

Finding the little-known Mexican herbs and vegetables at La Casita Mexicana in Bell

Ask Mr. Gold: Sin Carne, Looking for Mexican Vegetarian Cooking

Anne FishbeinCheese It: Moles La Tia's quesadillaDear Mr. Gold:       Would you happen to have a Mexican restaurant recommendation for the unemployed vegetarian librarian's budget? Gracias, Emily, Silver Lake  

Moles La Tia: Beyond the Magnificent Seven

Sauced in East L.A.

Green Highlights: A Planet-Friendly Palate

When it comes to sustainable sustenance, do ask — they'll tell

A Week in the Life of Jonathan Gold's Stomach

Dear Diary

Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu

The Taste of Nostalgia

April 13, 2007

¡Mas Suave! They’re handsome, charming and so good to their mothers. They’re Mexican American Princes, and they rule Los Angeles. By DANIEL HERNANDEZ

Low and Slow

That is the tempo. Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu’s La Casita Mexicana

Ask Mr. Gold