A hole-in-the-wall location often signifies authenticity when it comes to ethnic eateries, but it rarely forebodes gastronomical innovation. Quite understated Babita Mexicuisine, however, serves up daring, progressive Mexican cuisine for which you would expect to be forced to endure thumping house music or a month-long waiting list. This is not the place to go for white cheese- and sour cream-slathered hard tacos or quesadillas, but you'll soon forget about your neighborhood taco truck the moment you savor the creations of chef/owner Roberto Berrelleza. Dazzling entrées include the mixiote (chile-rubbed lamb shank cooked in beer), salmon-stuffed yellow chilis with a strawberry salsa, and the Elba (named for his wife), which consists of chicken and shrimp sautéed in a banana-chipotle sauce. Beer and wine available. Serving lunch Tue–Fri, dinner Tue–Sun. Closed Mon.
Where The Locals Eat rating
Best Mexican
Top 100 Restaurant, Los Angeles
"Babita may be the platonic ideal of a Southern California Mexican restaurant, a comfortable place that just happens to have great food, a rough-edged Eastside joint whose service is burnished to a white-tablecloth sheen."
—Los Angeles Weekly
"But the best reason to go there now is for chef Roberto Berrelleza's stylish update of Mexican cooking."
—Los Angeles Times
"A hole-in-the-wall that's worthy of being a major destination."
—Pasadena Star-News
How others rate Babita Mexicuisine
Zagat 2009
26 Food Rating (Extraordinary to Perfection)
LA Weekly
Jonathan Gold's 99 Essential LA Restaurants, 2009