photo:Chris Shields

I’ll Take Oaxaca
By. B.A. Nilsson

La Familia

54 Philip St. (at Madison Avenue), Albany, 462-2190. Serving Sun-Thu 11-9:30, Fri 11-7. Closed Saturday! MC, V.

Cuisine: Southern Mexican

Entrée price range: $4 (burger and fries) to $10.50 (two seven-ounce sirloins)

Ambiance: small and unassuming

Cognitive dissonance is a term not usually applied to food service, yet I’ve just come across the most compelling example of the concept I’ve ever heard. Francisco Vazquez, who opened La Familia 10 months ago, has spent 17 years cooking for the Fresno’s chain. Seventeen years dishing ersatz Tex-Mex fare, which he now alternates with the cuisine of his native Oaxaca, one of the southern states of Mexico. Comparing the foodstuffs is like comparing Diego Rivera to Thomas Kinkade, the latter being a pale, populist imitation of painting.

Yet the menu at La Familia couldn’t be more unassuming. It’s intended to please any and all, with a page apiece of Mexican and Gringo fare. “North of the Border Favorites” gives you some burgers, with or without cheese ($4-$5.50), a couple of sirloin dishes ($10.50 each) and, in what strikes me as a swipe at the Americanization of Mexican food (why else would they be categorized on this page?), a quesadilla grande ($8.50) and a trio of burrito wraps ($5.75 with chicken to $7.50 with steak).

Although my dining companions and I avoided this side of the menu, I remain curious to see how these items are prepared. Because what we sampled from the Mexican list was so tasty, I’m suspecting an equally deft spin will be put on the anything that’s served here.

First: the location. It’s at the corner of Madison Avenue and Philip Street in Albany, a few blocks up from Lombardo’s and north of the Mansion Hill Inn. Parking is catch as catch can, although I managed to grab spots on the street each of the two times I stopped by.

The building itself is a simple storefront with a scattering of tables within. And it really is a family place. If Vazquez isn’t there to take care of you, his son Alberto Perez or daughter-in-law Magdalene Perez may take care of you. Or all three will be there, and I heard references to even more of the family.

Informality is the order of the day. You’re greeted as a friend, seated (if a seat is available) as you might be at a friend’s dining room table.

I was persuaded away from an American soda by the availability of Jarritos juice sodas, from Mexico, of which grapefruit is my favorite flavor ($1.25). I have yet to try the agua de Horchata ($1.50), which includes fruit and crushed almonds, and the agua de Jamaica, described as an “iced sorell tea drink.”

They’ll start you off with a basket of tortilla chips (fried in-house) and a spicy homemade salsa that packs a comforting kick. We also had a quesadilla to start, which are $2 each (or three for $5). Although I was most interested in the filling of mashed potatoes and chorizo, this combo was unavailable, so I went with Oaxaca cheese (which has the consistency of stiff mozzarella) and sprigs of epazote, otherwise used in tea. The tortillas on which this is placed are themselves homemade, so we’re even further away from what passes for quesadillas in the outside world. Me being me, I drizzled salsa on the aggregation, but it was perfectly delicious even without the savory addition, and certainly says what this dish can be.

That commentary, so to speak, increased as the entrées arrived. A chimichanga ($9.50) proved to be a generous-sized flour tortilla wrapped, as expected, around chopped beef, with salsa verde and Oaxaca cheese. It resembles that which you may know as a chimichanga, but it reveals a more complex flavor, aided in its own subtle way by the cheese, and a slightly higher kick of heat. This also informs the rice accompanying the dish, and there’s a serving of refried beans as well.

Heat also characterized the chicken à la Mexicana ($9.50), which proved to be the comeuppance of my wife, who believes that a chicken dish is the safest option on any menu. This entrée, which also can be ordered with steak, begins with a grilled slab of chicken breast that then hits the sauté pan with onions, peppers, and jalapeño slices, and it is the last-named that got to her.

Why this is so baffles me. I tasted the dish. It was terrific. The chicken itself didn’t declare any particularly strong or distinctive flavor, but wrapped as it was in the flavorful vegetables, it had a nice swirl of flavors around it. And the heat level, while pronounced, wasn’t oppressive. She says I don’t notice it anymore. I say she’s growing wimpier. Thanks to this column, I get the last word.

But let this be the last word: Oaxaca is famous for its moles (moh-lays), a sauce that balances the strength of chile peppers with the bitterness of chocolate. I asked Alberto what best would showcase a mole, and he suggested the enchiladas rojas ($8.50).

The enchiladas peek from beneath a generous coating of rich, aromatic sauce, almost burying the chicken-filled fried tortillas, and the sauce—along with onions and cheese—makes the dish. The accompanying wedge of beef (chicken also is available) is almost superfluous. And this is the dish, above all the others, that will persuade me back to the place.

You’ll find tacos and tamales and tostadas as well, but the food here merits exploration and you’ll be ably assisted in your pursuit. As the restaurant’s name suggests, it’s all in the family.

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