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cindo de mayo, DeathbedFood, Diane Wagner, jonathan waxman, la live, la mexican restaurants, rosa mexicano, west hollywood restaurants
Rosa Mexicano LA: An Upscale Mexican Option For Cinco de Mayo
I was psyched to get the “blogger exclusive” new menu tasting at Rosa Mexicano LA‘s West Hollywood location on Sunset (locally, they’re also at LA Live). Based on what I discovered, I’m thinking you just may want to consider them for your upcoming Cinco de Mayo plans – and beyond!
To be honest, I hadn’t really heard of them before being contacted. Perhaps that’s because I’m mostly LA-based. My friends in NYC definitely had heard the buzz and had been as Rosa Mexicano has big presence there. So I was eager to check them out. Upon arrival, I was seduced by combination of bright colors with dim lighting …
Having been around for more than 30 years, menu updates are key. And this year, they’ve made big strides with that by hiring Jonathan Waxman (former Chez Panisse and Michael’s) as their Culinary Advisor. Chef Waxman is helping the restaurant to focus on seasonal menu celebrations throughout the year.
Our tasting started off with samples of their signature cocktails including La Mandarina (fresh tangerine and basil, silver tequila, fresh lemon). That was lovely, but the Rosalita “Skinny” Margarita really rocked (made with Casa Noble organic silver tequila, organic agave, fresh lime and orange) – fabulous with only 158 calories.
Next, Leo made their signature Guacamole en Molcajete tableside, saying that his secret was making it “with love” … aww, well, whatever his secret really was, it worked!
Next up, a Ceviche Sampler with ahi, scallops and local fish of the day. My fav? The ahi (middle below) because it was served with habanero chiles and watermelon. Really unique and refreshing.
The Pollo Yucateco tacos were fantastic made with spiced chicken, plantains, and sweet peppers …
The Pescado de Baja tacos were lightly fried and served with a jalapeno tartar sauce. They use a fish of the day – ours was cod. I’m not a huge fan of fried fish but these were solid for those who like this type of taco.
Since Rosa Mexicano has been around since 1984, they like to roll out older, classic dishes as well as updated menu choices. Each day of the week, they offer a different “classic”. We went on a Thursday so the classic dish served was “Rollo de Pechuga” … a really sultry chicken dish. XO on this one.
Finally, we had the Pescado del Dia (fish of the day). This was Black Cod served with roasted beet chimichurri and chorizo potato salad. Really great … even the beans and rice were exceptional. The beans were vegetarian and the rice was brown rice … so healthy and much less guilt!
Dessert was also phenomenal …
The “Pastel de Platano y Chocolate” (Banana chocolate chip cake, peanut butter mousse, espresso ice cream) reminded me of one of my new DeathbedFood desserts from MB Post (The Elvis) – a high compliment! And the Flan de Rosa (vanilla flan infused with espresso, served with a warm brownie and Mexican cinnamon whipped cream) was maybe the most decadent flan I’ve had to date.
So, for upscale Mexican options this Cinco de Mayo (and beyond), Rosa Mexicano may be a good option to consider.