La Cocina de los Reyes

🇲🇽 CHIAPAS, MÉXICO / While the cuisine is definitely fit for royalty, these Reyes are actually Francisco and Sofia, the husband and wife team bringing comida chiapaneca to the San Gabriel Valley.

🇲🇽 MÉXICO (Chiapas)
📍 13712 Amar Road,
La Puente, San Gabriel Valley
🅿️ Ample parking in plaza
🥤 No Alcohol

EDITOR'S NOTE: 🎩 H/t Sean Vukan
@seaneatsanddrinks

📸 All photos by Jared Cohee
for Eat the World Los Angeles

If Francisco Reyes pegs you as someone new to his restaurant or the food of Chiapas when you open the door, he will bring you a menu open to the prominent first two pages. He says “Here you can try something different” as he waves a hand over the comida chiapaneca, listed as Chiapas #1 through Chiapas #17 on these pages.

Of course these are the foods that made the attraction of this restaurant so strong in the first place, but as Sean Vukan writes about in L.A. Taco, he has no way of knowing that given the nature of dining in Los Angeles and the many combo plates around the states. While plenty of food, these offerings are reasonably-portioned and priced, filling up Chiapanecos and anyone else that stumbles upon La Cocina.

The pride runs deep once you bite into the order of your choice, but also shows on the walls of the modest place. Pictures of tourist attractions in the state of Chiapas adorn the walls, and music and dance is usually on the television if there is not an important football match to show.

Sandwiched between Oaxaca and Guatemala, Chiapas is a lesser-known regional cuisine that has just as much indigenous influence as its neighbors. As the only place in Southern California offering this special food, La Cocina de los Reyes must be making anyone that calls Chiapas home very happy.

Breakfast is a great time to come to the restaurant, which opens at 09:00 on weekdays and 08:00 on Saturday and Sunday. Chiapas #1 ($13.99, above) is a plate of huevos rancheros that will immediately bring you back to a chilly winter morning in the mountain town of San Cristóbal de las Casas or the nearby capital Tuxtla Gutiérrez.

The salsa roja-smothered eggs are laid over a fresh corn tortilla and joined by their excellent black beans, some fried sweet plantains, and queso fresco. Chiapas makes up over half of México’s border with Guatemala, and the Central American affinity to combine sweet plantains, beans, and cheese shines through on this plate and others.

Those similarities between cuisines are also apparent in the tamales of Chiapas, which are steamed in banana leaves like those in many countries to its south. This preparation always makes for a less dry experience as the fats and oils from the ingredients are kept within and soak into the masa.

Tamales in Chiapas use small chipilín leaves, an aromatic plant that is popular in cuisines from Tabasco to El Salvador. They are pressed right into the masa and add such a unique flavor that you know you are not eating tamales from anywhere north of Oaxaca. At La Cocina you can take away a batch of a dozen of these for $30 or buy them individually for $4. Always with shredded chicken, they are available with mole rojo, or their red and green salsas.