Serious Regional Mexican in the Valley

Published on Tuesday, October 14, 2008, by C. Thi Nguyen / Edit Post

Don Huarache serves cuisine “estilo DF”. This means that it’s in the style of Mexico’s Distrito Federal—another name for the Mexico City area. It is “the first serious Mexican food restaurant in the Valley,” declares our resident expert on Mexican cuisine, streetgourmetla.

There are real quesadillas preparadas. This means quesadillas of fresh, raw masa, pressed out, filled, and then either deep-fried or cooked on a flat iron griddle. There are also fresh masa sopes. The specialty of the house is huaraches estilo DF. On the weekends, there is barbacoa de borrego (barbecued lamb), and homemade menudo.

There is homemade chicharron prensado, which you can’t even get in East LA, says streetgourmetla as well as tinga de pollo, a spicy chicken dish. “The chicharron prensado was unreal, so balanced in flavor and just blended beautifully with the crema, lettuce, beans, and cheese,” says streetgourmetla. “The tinga was spicy and oozing with complex tastes. I’m officially blown away.”

Don Huarache [San Fernando Valley–East]
10719 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood
818-766-8307

Board Link: SFV alert-Regional Mexican in No.Hollywood

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  • We showed up Sunday afternoon for a what we thought was going to be a nice meal based on what my gf had read here on Chow.
    I am a Chilango, a Mexican from Mexico city, therefore I know a huarache when I see one.
    We got there after 12, we walked in behind 2 latin ladies, and the place was empty. Either a bad sign or you're extremely lucky to have found a good mexican place to eat that was not...+READ

    We showed up Sunday afternoon for a what we thought was going to be a nice meal based on what my gf had read here on Chow.
    I am a Chilango, a Mexican from Mexico city, therefore I know a huarache when I see one.
    We got there after 12, we walked in behind 2 latin ladies, and the place was empty. Either a bad sign or you're extremely lucky to have found a good mexican place to eat that was not crowded.
    The decor was strange for a mexican joint, it looked recently renovated, nice furniture, fresh paint, the counters looked too new for a mexican restaurant but the hand made signs gave it an authentic air. The menu looked normal, although we noted there were no tacos. Strange but not unusual. I ordered the barbacoa, my gf a bistec huarache and the 2 squirts. the bill, 26 bucks was the first sign that something was a little off. (Normally we have the same meal for about half that price at El Huarache in Highland Park.) another thing that made me think that we were in a suspicious Mexican place was the brand new espresso machine that looked that it had never been touched. The food arrived, the huarache was soggy, the barbacoa was dry, the salsas were good and the fly in my consome was dead.
    That is correct the highlight of the meal was a fly that I found in the consome. Needless to say the gf, stopped eating but me being a proud chilango gingerly set it aside and plowed to the rest of the barbacoa. Having eaten outside the subway station in Balderas will desensitize you.

    So in closing, the place had an A but the fly had the last word. Don't go there, and I don't trust chow...-COLLAPSE