A taste of Oaxaca: Las 15 Salsas Restaurant brings traditional mole to the Valley
Nadia Cantú
Immersing yourself in the cuisine of Oaxaca — a southern state in Mexico known for its rich Indigenous culture — is a delight with a great variety of aromas, flavors and colors that delight even the most demanding palate.
Different types of mole (a curry-like dish), the traditional tlayudas (a large, thin tortilla covered in beans, meats and cheeses), chiles stuffed with chicken, enchiladas, enfrijoladas (like enchiladas, but covered in a bean sauce), empanadas, quesadillas and many other delicacies are part of the menu.
And despite the distance, finding that same flavor in Phoenix is not impossible.
Las 15 Salsas Restaurant Oaxaqueño, located on Seventh Avenue and Hatcher Road, calls itself “La Casa del Mole y Mezcal," and with good reason. The drinks and dishes prepared there stem from unchanging recipes that span Oaxacan generations and are only prepared using products imported directly from Oaxaca.
The owner and chef of the place, Elizabeth Hernández, has one clear objective: to follow her grandmother's recipes to a tee and offer that unique flavor of her land to Arizonans.
“With this need and dream of having our nostalgic product, more than anything, I clung to not transforming my food. I wanted to keep it as is. In Oaxaca, we are so rich in gastronomy, so much so that each town has its own recipes. The ones we work here are those of my family, my grandmother, who's from the Valles Centrales,” said Hernández.
She's been doing just that since she opened her restaurant in 2012.
A little piece of Oaxaca in Phoenix
Originally from the Valles Centrales (central Valley) region of Oaxaca, Hernández, 47, was born and raised in San Antonino Castillo Velasco, a small town 30 minutes from Oaxaca's capital. She moved to Chandler, Ariz., in 2010, when her ex-husband was offered a job.
“To follow my (then) husband I came here. Then they moved his job to this side (of Phoenix) and that's when I got to know the area where most of the Oaxacans are. The Oaxacan epicenter in Arizona is here,” Hernández said proudly.
It was while living in this community that she saw the need to bring her grandmother's food to the Valley. At the time, she said, there was at least one Oaxacan restaurant in the area, but the flavors were different from the ones she grew up with.
By 2012, Hernández had established a partnership with a local business owner, who owned a small grocery store and restaurant. She would cook up her mole and other dishes and sell them at the business called "La 15 y Salsas," located off 15th Avenue and Hatcher Road.
One day the owner told her that he was going to sell the business, signaling the chance for Hernández to take over. She thought about it that night and the next day she decided to buy it, but only the restaurant.
She adapted the previous name and made it her own, changing it to Las 15 Salsas, meaning the 15 sauces.
After several years at this location, the owner decided to sell the store to her as well, so she moved the restaurant to Seventh Avenue and Hatcher Road, where it is currently located.
Although its name refers to 15 sauces, in reality, the restaurant offers many more, including her many moles, bean pastes, entomatada, green and red sauces, to name a few.
Creating a name for herself in the Valley
All Mexican states have their own cuisine. In recent years, southern Mexico has gained a lot of ground, mainly in Chiapas and Oaxaca.
Oaxaca, specifically, celebrates an Indigenous gastronomic festival dubbed Guelaguetza, which takes over city streets and venues, showcasing the different customs, foods, artistry and mezcal of the state's eight regions. It is celebrated annually on every third and fourth Monday of July.
That same festivity has managed to make its way to the U.S. and even to Arizona. In 2022, the Desert Botanical Garden celebrated a two-day Guelaguetza. This year a similar event is scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 7.
In the Valley, in addition to Las 15 Salsas, there are other restaurants that offer Oaxacan food on their menu such as La Oaxaqueña Mexican Food, Restaurante Atoyac Estilo Oaxaca, Oaxaca Restaurant, El Tlacoyo, among others.
“In the south, the food is very delicious and appreciated. With flavors that you won't find anywhere else. For example, the tlayudas, the different moles, the chiles stuffed with chicken. We add epazote to many foods, we are very fond of cooking and eating with herbs, those exuberant flavors that are strong, but rich,” Hernández said.
Mole, one of the most emblematic dishes of Mexico, is one of her star dishes. It has become a rich and exotic delicacy due to its history and the hours of preparation that go into making it. Las 15 Salsas offers green mole, yellow mole, coloradito, estofado and black mole — the latter being the most popular choice on her menu, she said.
The word mole comes from the Indigenous Nahuatl word “molli,” which means sauce. Its culinary process comes from pre-colonial times, involving a wide variety of ingredients — chocolate, various vegetables, fruit, nuts and spices — coupled with a rich mixture of chili peppers as its main ingredient.
And because Oaxaca has become a well-sought place for tourists, due to its rich gastronomy and customs, Americans really like her dishes, said Hernández.
“Americans come and tell us that they visited Oaxaca and that they liked it so much that when they arrived 'I found out about your restaurant and I came.' They will come in and already know what to order,” she said.
Another favorite on the Las 15 Salsas menu is the traditional tlayuda, a Oaxacan gastronomic symbol, typical of the Valles Centrales of Oaxaca. These are large, often thin-like tortillas covered in a bean spread and topped with meats, vegetables and cheeses.
A good refreshing drink—and highly recommended, especially for summer—is tejate.
“It is mainly made up of the cocoa seed. It can be made with corozo (a kind of plum, blueberry or it can even have an appearance similar to acai) or mamey heart, which is where its foam or chantillí (the fat at the top of the glass) comes from.” Hernandez said.
The mamey heart is roasted and ground together with the corn. The drink contains corn, cocoa, mamey heart and a flower called rosita de cocoa.
Preserving her Oaxacan identity through food
Las 15 Salsas is not your typical Mexican restaurant.
Hernández said customers never fail to come in and ask for chimichangas or typical asada tacos.
Since opening her restaurant 11 years ago, preserving her family's traditions via her cooking has been her top priority. When she first arrived in Phoenix, finding those products wasn't as simple as heading over to Ranch Market or Food City. Ingredients originating from Oaxaca were limited, she said.
So she began to request products from local Oaxacans who would travel to and from her home state. It worked, although she became dependent on their ability to find and deliver those ingredients once in Phoenix.
“I realized that I couldn't depend on those people because when they didn't come or didn't bring what I had asked for," she was left without being able to make a certain dish, she said.
The solution? Import products directly from Oaxaca, no middle people needed.
“I was able to find a way to import my stuff. I found out, I asked, I investigated until I achieved it and (now) I have my own import business. Some of the products arrive through California and others through Nogales,” she said.
Keeping true to her traditions, Hernández said that she has lost customers. Some asking for a mole to be made a certain way or the the tlayuda to include different toppings than the traditional black beans and chorizo. This would alter her authentic dishes — something she refuses to ever do, she said.
“Despite that, I do not change (my food). It is something that I have kept since I started and I held on to the fact that the food was going to be completely Oaxacan and traditional. I've been doing this for 11 years," she said.
Details: Hours vary. Las 15 Salsas Restaurant Oaxaqueño, 722 W. Hatcher Rd., Phoenix. 602-870-2056. las15salsas.com