Authentic is a word that, when used in a culinary context, can elicit sighs and eye rolls. It’s often overused, stripped of its meaning. But in some cases, it still holds true and is the only word that will do, like when describing La Oaxaqueña.
When it opens this summer, at 2925 Lemay Ferry Road, La Oaxaqueña will be the only Oaxacan restaurant in St. Louis. “I want to offer another flavor to people, so they can know the taste of authentic Oaxacan food,” says Yolanda Soriano, who co-owns the restaurant with her husband, Jaime Rosas.
Find the best food in St. Louis
Subscribe to the St. Louis Dining In and Dining Out newsletters to stay up-to-date on the local restaurant and culinary scene.
The tlayuda, for instance, is both the name of the iconic dish from Oaxaca and the hardened tortilla used to house a filling of refried black beans, asiento (unrefined pork lard), cabbage, meat, avocado, Oaxaca cheese, and salsa. “Every state in Mexico has its own food,” says Soriano. “In Oaxaca, it’s tlayuda.”
Another signature dish: tamales, made with fresh masa filled with meat and mole negro, then wrapped in plantain leaves (instead of the more common corn husk wrapping). La Oaxaqueña’s masa is nixtamalized and ground on-site for the softest, freshest tamales and tortillas. Masa is also used to make molotes, football-shaped appetizers filled with chorizo or Oaxaca cheese that are fried and topped with refried beans, cabbage, queso fresco, and salsa.
In addition to the featured Oaxacan menu, La Oaxaqueña will offer a Tex-Mex menu of street tacos (carne asada, al pastor, lengua, and more), fajitas, and burritos smothered in white queso.
Many of Soriano’s recipes come from her childhood home in Oaxaca, where she learned to cook at her mother’s side. Her mother passed away when Soriano was 13 years old and her older sister stepped in to care and cook for the family. Soriano moved to the U.S. when she was 16 years old and started working in restaurants, learning to make a regional favorite, Tex-Mex.
Today, as she prepares for a late May or early June restaurant opening, her sister and father are her guides in creating the menu. “They taste everything and tell me how to change it, so it’s exactly like home,” says Soriano. “It’s also about the love you pour into the food. I love to make it.”
