I need a little Babita, and I don’t mean spit!

Chile en nogada

August kicks off the chiles en nogada (chiles in walnut sauce) season. Think chile relleno, but stepped up a couple of notches. From about August to October, restaurants prepare this beautiful Mexican national specialty. The green chile, white walnut sauce, and red pomegranate seeds represent the Mexican flag, and it’s one of my favorite dishes because the flavors are so complex. Seriously, it’s a little food bomb! The history of the dish is also muy cool. Around the time of Mexico’s independence from Spain (1810), the nuns of Santa Monica convent in the state of Puebla invented this special dish to venerate Agustín de Iturbide, who had declared himself emperor of Mexico and was about to make his grand, triumphal entrance to Puebla on his birthday. No pressure for them, right?

All of this leads to one thing, and that is where to eat a good chile en nogada in LA. For years now, I’ve been reading about BABITA. Jonathan Gold included this place in his latest LA Weekly article “99 Essential LA Restaurants.” So there you have it. If you try it before I do, let me know what you think. 1823 S. San Gabriel Blvd., San Gabriel, (626) 288-7265.