Epazote serves mom’s recipes

When the owners of Cubanito Express saw an opportunity to expand their business next door, they wanted to try something new. Epazote, 3216 S. Harlem in Riverside, features something old – their mom’s cooking. 

Brothers Lucio and Cesar Ambrosio were already operating two locations of their other restaurant when the Mediterranean spot next door to them on Harlem announced that it was closing. It seemed like a good opportunity to expand, but they didn’t want to compete directly with themselves. They needed to offer something new. 

“Riverside, it’s amazing. They’ve been really supportive since day one,” chef and co-owner Cesar Ambrosio said of their four years in business there. “We wanted something different, not your regular Mexican restaurant. I came up with the idea of exposing my mother’s cooking because we are from Puebla, Mexico. I always tell people it’s a magical town.”

The herb epazote is featured heavily in dishes from Puebla, which is just southeast of Mexico City.

“I actually used to drink it as a tea,” Ambrosio said. “It has a lot of medical benefits. And when you cook epazote, it gives it a great flavor. By itself, it’s a little bit too strong.” 

The herb in English is often called skunkweed or goosefoot. It’s Latin name is dysphania ambrosioides. 

“The scientific name, it includes our last name, Ambrosio,” Ambrosio said.

The herb is included in 10 of the restaurant’s dishes. 

“My favorite dish from my mom is the huaxmole,” Ambrosio said. “It’s a pre-Hispanic dish. It has all these different spices. I believe it has around 40 ingredients. It does have a lot of ingredients from chili peppers, cinnamon, black pepper, to bread, to chocolate, but they all come together and form a perfect sauce.”

Mom, Francis Cuaultle, is in the kitchen, steering the preparation. 

“She’s teaching me exactly how to make all these recipes,” Ambrosio said. “These recipes are in her mind. We have to put them down exactly. Grandmas, you know, they don’t have a recipe book.”

The restaurant features coffee from the Chiapas region of Mexico. And it also offers other Mexican and American favorites. Breakfast is served: huevos six different ways and pancakes. Burgers are available too. Wings come with house-made sauces. 

“I have your regular Buffalo,” Ambrosio said. “But I also have a sauce that’s called Asian spice. That’s an Asian, Mexican fusion because it includes chipotle, pepper, also includes ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce. It also includes fresh orange, so it’s you get that sweet and spicy sauce. It’s a really amazing sauce.”

Ambrosio gives thanks to God for the opportunity to do this work.  

“My dream is to leave a legacy,” he said. “I left my past jobs working for great people, working for great companies where I had everything for this, for something to call mine and for my kids. I want them to grow up and say, ‘Dad, you created this.’ And maybe one day, maybe one of them will continue it.”