The menu of tasty moles, enfrijoladas, tlayudas, antojitos, and seafood from the Pacific coast is standard fare from the Valles Centrales, except for the North Hills address for this San Fernando Valley outlier. The house specialties are grilled cecina (pork in adobo), tasajo (beef jerky), or Oaxacan chorizo served in combo plates with white rice. Epazote-scented black beans and tasajo added to chilaquiles make for a true Oaxacan breakfast.

Taquero and mixe entrepreneur Fermin Martinez has been bringing Mexico City-style al pastor to the far reaches of Los Angeles, in a taco scene dominated by the mixe indigenous group from Oaxaca. Whether in Torrance, El Monte, South LA, or the San Fernando Valley, more Angelenos can enjoy the city’s best al pastor tacos, mulitas, tortas, and alambres with flavorful pork featuring a fine char and light sweetness when carved from the vertical spit in nice chunks.

With two locations in Hollywood, Gabriel Cruz, who opened his first restaurant on Western Avenue in 2003, has established himself as one of the major players in Oaxacalifornia, participating in and organizing events in the Oaxacan community. Cruz is the only one in LA doing caldo de piedra, or stone soup. It consists of shrimp, fish, onions, chiles, tomatoes, cilantro, and epazote loaded into a jícara (gourd) and rapidly boiled by a hot river stone that’s dropped into the soup.

This street vendor in Echo Park makes blue corn quesadillas filled with traditional guisados. Go with the mushrooms, huitlacoche (corn truffle), or squash blossoms, and dress them up in the appetizing selection of colorful salsas and condiments for a pre-Hispanic snack at one of the city’s OG street vendors.  

In the sub-enclave of Koreatown’s Little Bangladesh lies the historic center of Oaxacan cuisine, where this spot from Mexico’s Valles Centrales opened within a Third Street strip mall, joining a second wave of traditional Oaxacan restaurants. The mole coloradito shines, with Old World spice and mildly sweet New World chiles (whether as a plate or as enchiladas), as does the estofado.

Latino bakeries in LA tend to cater to a general Mexican consumer, along with Central Americans, but several bakeries are Oaxacan owned and bake regional pan dulce and other breads to meet the needs of LA’s Oaxacan community. You can get Oaxacan food here as well, but start with a pan de yema with hot chocolate and then look around for other regional pan dulce, like mamones, conitos, polvorones, empanadas de piña y coco, borrachitos, panqués, and casquitos. 

The standard bearer of Oaxacan cuisine in America, Guelaguetza is a James Beard American Classic destination for mezcal, mole, and crickets. It’s the only Oaxacan restaurant in the U.S. modeled after the greats in Oaxaca City like La Teca, La Biznaga, and Los Danzantes. There’s also especially fragrant estofado, a mole accented with green olives and hints of fresh herbs —  tlayudas, and memelas topped with a smear of asiento (unrefined lard) and silky, refried black beans.

Ignacio and Felipe Santiago, who both speak Spanish as a second language (they grew up speaking Zapotec in their hometown of San Felipe Guila in the Tlacolula district), made their way as cooks in the U.S. in a variety of styles of cooking, but it was Lebanese cuisine that intrigued them the most. Their first restaurant is a culinary mash-up, where cool mezze meets hot salsa, the tabbouleh has cactus and jalapenos, and chicken shawarma tacos — and Mexiterranean wraps — are given their due respect as burritos.

As part of the first wave of Oaxacan restaurant in LA, this Pico-Union institution is one of the best overall Oaxacan restaurants for its well-executed moles, sweet and savory chile relleno, emapandas filled with mole amarillo, and its parrillada oaxaqueña, an assorted grill of meats and sides served on a tabletop brazier that’s a less smoky Oaxacalifornia tribute to the carnes asadas vendors in the historic Tlacolula market. 

Unbeknownst to many, Leo’s and its four trucks scattered around town are owned and operated by Oaxacans. Start with four tacos de al pastor, deftly carved from the well-manicured spinning top of fire-roasted and marinated pork, or go big and get the alambre hawaiana, a hash of al pastor, pineapple, Oaxaca cheese, ham, peppers, onions, and bacon served with a stack of corn tortillas for making your own tacos.

The red chilaquiles with tender house-made cecina or tasajo are especially delicious at this small butcher shop, bakery, and restaurant. You can pick up top-quality cecina, tasajo, chorizo and other meats, baked goods, and solid Oaxacan fare, including excellent tlayudas, at this Mid-City strip mall spot.

There are many small Oaxacan minimarkets in LA, but only four midsize markets: There’s La Mayordomia and three outposts of the El Valle Oaxaqueño chainlet: a supermarket, restaurant, and bakery overflowing with Oaxacan pan dulce. During the holidays there are stacks of boxes of rosca de reyes (king’s bread).

Tucked into a West LA strip mall, no other Oaxacan restaurant, after Guelaguetza, can claim to have made such an impression on the hearts, minds, and bellies of Angelenos. That might mean mole coloradito poured onto a square dinner plate with a side of white rice set in a Zapotec pyramid mold, a party platter of assorted Oaxacan antojitos, or bubbling molcajetes chock full of Oaxacan meats, quesillo, and vegetables.

Maria Ramos, a third-generation barbacoa master with strong roots in the world-famous Tlacolula market, is one of the most important traditional Mexican cooks in Los Angeles. On weekends, Ramos prepares barbacoa enchilada, or Oaxacan goat barbecue, chock full of spices and oils from the roasted goat, to eat with hand-pressed tortillas blandas. The house-made tasajo, cecina, and chorizo are best here, so this is your spot for tlayudas and spicy plates of chilaquiles with a side of one of its tender meats.

One of Leo’s main competitors (along with the Chilango-owned Los Güichos) is another Oaxacan, Rolando Martinez, who also brings in veteran taqueros from Oaxaca to tend to his al pastor spit. Tacos de al pastor and alambres (a hash of al pastor, vegetables, cheese, and other ingredients) are the best items.

LA is fortunate to have so many Oaxacan mini-markets, and this newly-opened second location of West LA’s carniceria run by a family from Tlacolula is one of the city’s best. Buy fresh Oaxacan herbs, chile de agua, and Oaxacan cheeses and order some memelas (Oaxacan antojitos) and Oaxacan aguas frescas while you shop. La Flama has a great selection of tlayudas, available in blue, yellow and white corn. Go on a weekend and find a tejate vendor on the patio. Slowly sip this cool, chalky pre-Hispanic beverage made with cacao and masa, or try the coconut and masa version.

Alfonso “Poncho” Martínez de Santo Domingo Albarradas’s “viernes de tlayuda,” or tlayuda Friday, is ushering in new era of Oaxacan street food with artisanal blue corn and yellow corn tlayudas as good as you’ll find in Oaxaca City. His smoky tortillas are smeared with asiento and black beans, Oaxacan cheese, and your choice of tasajo, chorizo, and an unconventional but delicious artisanal blood sausage.

Boasting five handmade moles — mole negro, mole coloradito, mole amarillo, and mole verde — the Martinez family went all in on their first brick-and-mortar, even offering vegan mole, and vegan tlayudas. With decades of restaurant experience, the Martinezes are staying close to their San Marcos Tlapazola roots, while including seafood dishes like pescado zapoteco, inspired by Oaxaca’s Pacific coast, tasajo (beef jerky) fajitas, queso fundido, and a spicy ceviche made with Oaxacan chile de agua.

For 23 years, one of LA’s oldest Oaxacan restaurants has adapted to the Mar Vista crowd with a mix of Valles Centrales dishes. Highlights include mole amarillo, entomatadas with tasajo, and goat barbacoa, plus a nice selection of Oaxacan pan dulce to go along with popular Mexican-American dishes. There’s a section dedicated to tacos, tostadas, and burritos. One burrito is drowned in a light, fruity mole rojo that’s been a big hit on the westside for decades. 

This is the best of Zeferino Garcia’s markets, located in Downtown LA, where you can shop for tlayudas, Oaxacan herbs and chiles, crickets, Oaxacan cheese, cured meats, and tortillas blandas, and have your toasted mole ingredients or chocolate recipe machine ground on the premises.

The new generation of young Oaxacan restaurateurs are embracing their Oaxacalifornia culture at this colorful Whittier destination for giant margaritas topped with upside-down bottles of beer, tlayudas, and overflowing parrilladas, or mixed grills. There are traditional moles, tamales, and other dishes from the Valles Centrales. But goat barbacoa combo plates, and wet burritos drowned in mole negro are delicious expressions of Oaxacalifornia, washed down with a tequila sunrise or a Oaxacan agua de chilacoyota.

La Diosa de Los Moles, or goddess of moles, chef Rocio Camacho is an institution in LA, known for her Oaxacan, national Mexican, and other creative takes on Mexico’s popular pre-Hispanic celebration dish. There are treats from her hometown of Huajuapan de León in the Mixteca region, such as chileajo, a guisado made with a blend of toasted chiles, garlic, and spices, and her mom’s flawless mole negro, sublime in its texture and its many distinguishable ingredients — a feat to accomplish.