Daina Solomon

mole de los dioses at Rocio's

After a soft-open this past Saturday, Rocio's Mole de los Dioses officially opens in Tarzana to the public today, joining a Sun Valley location in offering moles of various traditions.

"We believe in keeping traditions alive. We focus on moles because it's one of the more traditional dishes that has not been Americanized. It has not been exposed as it should be," says Alonso Arelleno, who co-owns the restaurants with Camacho and his wife, Elsa. "Rocio takes six to eight hours just to create one mole, because she does everything from scratch."

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This year's Hola Mexico Film Festival, which is taking place May 15-22 in downtown Los Angeles, suddenly is looking a lot more appetizing. This is thanks in no small part to the efforts of Guelaguetza's Bricia Lopez and a few of her friends. On Thursday, May 16, Lopez is opening up her restaurant to host a mezcal-fueled documentary movie screening.

"I only hope that this event will make everyone fall in love with mezcal just like I did," Lopez says. Subject of said film? Not surprisingly, mezcal. This will be the first screening in the United States of the documentary Viva Mezcal. The night's mezcal lineup includes Tosba, Los Amantes, Wahaka, MonteLobos, Niña del Mezcal and Mina Real Mezcal.

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Paul Bartunek

In many parts of Mexico, the pig is king. From fried skin to chopped ears to ground chorizo, puerco is the carne of choice for millions of Mexicans every day. And, as our southerly sister nation goes, so too do the culinary interests of Los Angeles.

We are a city that loves its carnitas, the long-simmering pork preparation that renders fat and boils huge chunks of pig to create tender, juicy bites that fall apart with flavor. And while many readers may only regard carnitas as the thick, pulled-apart bites from a simmered pork butt, it is really just a specific preparation of pig. You know, like how BBQ is both a specific food and a technique.

Everything from the snout to the ribs to all of that inside stuff can be tossed together (usually inside a large metal pot known as a cazo) and simmered for hours in lard. Once the desired internal temperature is reached, the already boiling pot is heated further, frying porky edges and crisping skin in the process.

So where can you find the best carnitas in Los Angeles? After weeks of taste testing, re-testing, taking home samples and scouring the city (tough job, isn't it?), here are our picks for the ten best carnitas spots around.

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Farley Elliott

There's not much going on around this stretch of Venice Boulevard. The bisected street hasn't quite hit Culver City, and isn't close enough downtown to simmer with Pico-Union's Central American spices. Sure, Tacos Leo is nearby and you can find a serviceable pupusa at Con Sabor down the street, but the Venice Plaza strip mall at Venice Blvd. and Hauser Blvd. is an often-overlooked run of nail salons, beauty salons and a weary check cashing place. But tucked right into the mix -- or in one case, around the corner and out of sight -- are a couple of dine-in Mexican restaurants and a faded dessert shop.

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Hawk Krall

Don't believe all of that NCAA basketball hype; there's only one single-elimination bracket to worry about this month, and L.A. Taco has it covered. The alternative arts/food/culture site has just released the 5th annual version of their extremely popular Taco Madness tournament, which pits the city's best tacos against one another for ultimate bragging rights.

Previous winners have included formidable talents such as Mariscos Jalisco, Guisados and Mexicali Taco & Co., and while they all make vastly different styles of taco, it's hard to argue against any one of them. Not to be outdone, Ricky's Fish Taco (despite a recent return to the underground) is a perennial favorite and, despite never having won the tournament, sits as a #1 seed in the rankings.

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Paul Bartunek

Carne asada fries at Taco Spot

Carne asada fries don't travel well, practically and ideologically speaking. They're increasingly hard to locate as you drive north from San Diego County, and surprisingly rare in Los Angeles, a city teeming with Mexican food, college students and medical marijuana cards. Piles of freshly fried spuds, laced with spoonfuls of guacamole and sour cream, don't tend to fare well on the short drive home, either. Wait too long to dig into a mound of the late-night favorite and you'll have some seriously bloated french fries on your hands ... and on your shirt ... and on your pants.

Around these parts, catching a fresh pile of cheesy carne asada fries takes some doing. There are a few local spots west of the 405, a couple of options around downtown and Highland Park, and some good leads near Torrance -- L.A. is not exactly a city teeming with the stuff. Still, there are great options to be had, if you know where to look. To the discerning diner, it's possible to sit down with a steaming pile of warm french fries, well salted and crisp, tucked underneath a cow's worth of tender, grilled beef and nearly overrun by fresh guacamole, sour cream and handfuls of gooey melted cheese. It may never make sense to stick fries inside your already overstuffed burrito, San Diego, but when it comes to carne asada fries, you just might be on to something.

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Anne Fishbein

Birria at El Parian

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 to get you started.
  

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Susan Bell

Sarah Portnoy at Guisados with co-owner Armando de la Torre and students

We all eat for pleasure. Some of us also eat in pursuit of academic knowledge. "Food studies" is a burgeoning field where scholars consider food a potent tool for illuminating a vast range of topics and issues. Among L.A. colleges and universities, you'll find classes on "Animal Ethics," "Restaurant Culture," "Food Politics," and "Science and Food," among others. One emphasizes L.A.'s Latino community -- professor Sarah Portnoy's "The Culture of Food in Hispanic Los Angeles" at the University of Southern California. As a class in USC Dornsife's Spanish department, students spend ample time developing language skills. (Such as writing blogs in Spanish.) But the culinary twist means they also examine issues related to history, immigration, and cultural values. We spoke with Portnoy, a Houston native, over margaritas at Yxta Cocina Mexicana to hear her take on L.A.'s diverse and fascinating Latino food scene.

For more academic discussion, join Portnoy and other food experts at USC's Doheny Memorial Library tomorrow, Friday, March 1 at 11 a.m. for a panel discussion entitled "Just Food and Fair Food: A Multidisciplinary Exploration." Admission is free. The panel will be followed by a "fair food bazaar," and lunch courtesy of Mama's Hot Tamales and Homegirl Café.

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E. Dwass

Trader Joe's is known for traveling the globe to find a wide and ever-changing variety of foods. They recently went next door to bring back Organic Stone-Ground Mexican-Style Dark Chocolate, which has the shape, taste and paper packaging of traditional south-of-the-border chocolates.

There are two varieties, extra dark and salt and pepper, both with an intense, barely sweet flavor. Like other Mexican chocolates, the texture is grittier than American or European choices. The extra dark version has 70% cocoa solids, while the spicy has 54% cocoa solids. Each package contains two 1.3 ounce discs, scored into 8 pie-slice-shaped wedges, priced at $1.49.

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Anne Fishbein

Chile en nogada at La Casita Mexicana

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 Tiendita Mexicana, which sells Mexican folk art, jewelry, candies, jarred moles, toys and gift baskets.

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