A few days ago we noted the results from the annual James Beard awards banquet. The awards are the culmination of an eight month process that starts each year in mid-October, when the James Beard Foundation holds open calls for entries. This year, over 9,600 nominations were received. These entries are tabulated for the Foundation’s Restaurant and Chef Committee by the independent accounting firm Lutz & Carr. Based on the results and eligibility requirements for each award, the committee then produces a nominating ballot that lists 20 semifinalists in each of 19 Restaurant and Chef awards categories, which include Outstanding Restaurant, Best New Restaurant, Rising Star Chef and Best Regional Chef.

Included in this year’s list of Pacific region semifinalists, alongside many of the standard bearers of California cuisine like Michael Cimarusti of Providence in Los Angeles, Douglas Keane of Cyrus in Healdsburg and David Kinch of Manresa in Los Gatos, were two proprietors of a small storefront restaurant in Bell, California. They are Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu, Chefs at La Casita Mexicana.

From La Casita’s Web site.

Unfortunately, Jaime and Ramiro didn’t make the final cut for the Beard awards this year. But their nomination was enough to pique our interest. We were intrigued and we had to check out their cooking.

The restaurant is located about 10 miles southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. Considering the fact that for many people the Eastside of LA starts at La Cienega, this may just be too far away for some to ever consider. But, like Pat Saperstein, the promoter of all things Eastside, we think this place definitely worth a visit.

La Casita Mexicana is a small storefront restaurant on an otherwise nondescript section of Gage avenue in Bell. It is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. Despite this fact, the Chefs are local legends and the Spanish-language media kings of cooking. In his April 2007 review of the restaurant, Jonathan Gold noted that:

“Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu are everywhere…, demonstrating recipes on the Univision morning show, opening supermarkets, splashed across advertising posters, conducting ConAgra-sponsored “cooking camps” at stores across the Southwest. They dominate the food pages of La Opinión at least to the extent that Gino Angelini or Nancy Silverton do in the L.A. Times, and no local discussion of mole poblano, nopalitos or chilaquiles is complete until they have had their say. At their restaurant, La Casita Mexicana in Bell, the customers occasionally startle in recognition when one of them pokes his head out of the kitchen, like a Spago customer might if she realized her squab was being roasted by Wolfgang Puck himself. These guys do the Alice Waters thing too — much of their produce (squashes, cactus, herbs, odd Mexican vegetables like huazontle) comes straight from communal Eastside gardens. They even have their own slow-food motto: “Good food is cooked over a low flame.” Arvizu and Del Campo are what you get when you translate Celebrity Chef into Spanish.”

When you sit down at the table, a waiter immediately brings out a small bowl of chips that have been laced with both red and green pepian sauce and a black mole poblano. Jaime and Ramiro are masters of these traditional sauces. They are the house specialties. The pepians are thick rich sauces comprised primarily of pumpkin seeds, peanuts and spices like clove and allspice, with the divergent colors coming from the choice of chiles. Both pepians were excellent examples of the kitchen’s capabilities, while the mole was a little sweet for my taste.

In this increasingly expensive economy, La Casita still represents a great everyday value. The entrées average about $10 and each come with a soup of the day. On our visit the kitchen was serving cream of Mexican rice. Considering the complexity of the “house special” moles and pepians, this was a very simple soup with a subtle flavor. The soup was well seasoned with a distinct taste of rice that was nicely complemented by the tomatoes and spices that had been used to cook the original grain.

It should be noted that La Casita doesn’t serve alcohol of any kind. They do, however, prepare a few refreshingly simple drinks that can hit the spot. The first is a limeade of sorts that is served with a sprinkling of white chia seeds, which add a nutty flavor to the tart drink. Anthropologists note that chia seeds, which are rich in protein and Omega-3 fatty acids, were the third most important crop to the ancient Aztec and Mayan cultures after only corn and beans. And yes, they are the same seeds that grow into sprouts on the popular “Chia Pet.”

La Casita also serves a delicious fresh horchata, made from rice steeped with cinnamon and vanilla. It is a nice homemade example of the milky sweet drink that is all too often made from a powdered mix in and around LA.

The first of the two entrées we had that day was a “cecina de res.” In Mexican cooking, Cecina is made up of thin, flat strips of beef that have been lightly salted, possibly marinated with lime juice and then air dried. This gives the beef a nice gamy flavor that comes through when the strips are flash grilled. La Casita’s cecina is served with a pickled cactus salad, refried beans and excellent house-made tortillas. A very nice, very traditional, very simple dish.

Our other dish that day was the “puerco con pepian rojo” or pork with red pepian sauce. Having enjoyed both pepians on the complementary chips, I knew I wanted more. Add to that the fact that I am a sucker for pulled pork and this dish seemed like the answer. As you can see from the photo below, the shredded pork was completely enveloped by the thick pepian, which was the color of the hills surrounding Sedona. The nutty, chile-spiked sauce had a creamy mouth feel and was a nice match for the rich pork. Another nice dish.

I am sure we will be heading back to La Casita some time soon as there are a number of other house specialties that we didn’t get a chance to try. Jonathan Gold called the chilaquiles “far beyond” what other restaurants have to offer and the “chile en nogada,” which is a roasted poblano stuffed with meat and dried fruits then covered in a rich cream sauce and pomegranate seeds, is a hit on Chowhound. Maybe by then, the restaurant’s two Chefs will be back in the running for next year’s James Beard awards.