Babita

We went to Babita on April 1, 2008 to celebrate our three-year anniversary one day early with the immediate family.  Babita has been a popular "destination" restaurant in San Gabriel for the past several years.  My wife had been there a couple of times before and it was my first time.  I had read about it in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

The afternoon/evening started off well since my wife had learned that we could take the 487 metro bus from work to the house.  We caught the bus just one block from work.  Since that's one of the first stops there was plenty of seating.  The bus did get very crowded before it left Downtown so it's good we could catch it at that stop.  It drove on the bus lanes when it got to the 10 freeway and we were never "stuck in traffic".  It stopped at USC Medical Center and Cal State L.A. before exiting the freeway at Del Mar in San Gabriel.  It went north on Del Mar and then turned west (left) on Valley.  We got off at Valley and New Avenue and walked to Mom and Dad's (my in-laws) house.  In all it was a 50 minutes bus ride and seven-minute walk. 

We all drove to the restaurant in Mom and Dad's car found parking along Norwood Street nearby.  The building that houses the restaurant is right next to someone's house.  We entered the front door that's right at the northwest corner of San Gabriel and Norwood.  The room is very small with no more than 8-10 small tables and many of them moved together for larger parties.  We made a reservation and our table for five was ready for us.  The room was lit with ambience.  It had a high ceiling and a high shelf all along with wall with many different kinds of Tequila bottles on it.

The server took our orders and we started with chips and salsa.  The chips were good but I didn't really like the salsa.  They brought us their famous guacamole that I couldn't have because they sprinkled cheese on it.  But then they brought us the appetizers and I started to taste why Babita is a destination.  The fried calamari was very good and it came with a very spicy red sauce.  But the brown mole with mushrooms topped it.  I had just the right amount of spice and a slight taste of chocolate that went great with the mushrooms.  We also had it with the calamari and the chips.

Our food came slowly perhaps because quality takes time.  This left plenty of time for conversation.  When our main courses came they were worth the wait.  My wife got the Chicken and Shrimp Elba on top of squash with brown sauce.  It also came with rice, beans, and a little red pepper cut look like a flower.  She enjoyed it.  I had the Cochinita Pibil which is pork slow-cooked in banana leaves and mild red spices.  It came in a bowl sans leaves with cabbage and pickled onions on top.  It was flavorful and very tender.  The main course showstopper, though, was the tortillas.  The server came around with one of those circular tortilla contains and gave a hot corn tortilla to each of us.  They were thicker and slightly larger than most corn tortillas.  I used it to make a taco out of my Cochinita Pibil.  It tasted great and despite being thick enough to hold a lot, it wasn't tough or chewy but the right consistency.  It was also very filling.  There were enough tortillas for some of us to have more than one.

Babita was nearly at capacity the entire time we were there.  They turned people away because all the tables were reserved.  Good thing we made a reservation.  It was a great anniversary eve and we thank Mom and Dad for taking us.  We’re lucky to have destination restaurants so close to home.