LP Hastings

It doesn't take Roland Rubalcava of Rubalcava's in Placentia very long to make horchata, that famous Mexican agua fresca of rice, evaporated milk, cinnamon and little else. There are only five ingredients, and the most time-consuming aspect of the preparation is just soaking, which obviously requires no effort on anyone's part. "It's weird though," he says amidst throwing together a magnificent-looking burrito for a customer, "I would say that most Mexican restaurants don't have real horchata."

He qualifies the reason being that it takes about 24 hours to have a batch, but he's just trying to be nice. "The majority of horchatas you buy are just made with syrup that's been diluted with water. It's all sugar!" That's not to say that honest-to-goodness homemade horchata doesn't have sugar (it most definitely does), but its sweetness is natural and light. Roland also points out that it's incredibly inexpensive and can be paired with many meals. "Mexicans drink it with almost anything," he says, "you can have it hot or cold, and all day long."

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LP Hastings

Fried Tacos de Papa

"Today it's tacos de papa," Roland says as he slaps a bag of tortillas down on our stainless steel workspace. Daylight savings has kept the sun around for our evening meetings and the tiny kitchen in the back of Rubalcava's is filled with warm light coming from the back door. "So, what's new with you?" he asks.

Working on Make It Mexican with Roland is a little bit like therapy. Rubalcava's could not be more laid-back with families filing in and out, and kids chilling on the sidewalk, throwing back trays of tacos. Roland's care of the facility and the way that he goes back and forth throughout our meetings makes the world slow down just a little bit. He knows what details are needed and, is getting to be a pretty good hand model.

We were a little late to jump on Lent dishes, but tacos de papa are simple and the only supremely vegetarian dish we have made so far. Roland points out that there are a variety of applications for the tortillas in this dish, but he shows us three options and they all take very little time.
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LP Hastings

Roland Rubalcava of Rubalcava's Bakery prefaces this month's demonstration with a truth that, now stated, will hopefully keep a couple of people from commenting, "That's not how my mama does it!" on this article.

"Everybody's gonna have a little different idea how to make the best enchiladas," he says, and ain't that the truth. You can fill them with literally whatever you want, but the most common fillings are shredded chicken, potato, or cheese. The key in making your enchiladas though, regardless of whether your mami does it better, is how you fry them up. Apparently, the whole enchiladas in a casserole dish are a farce, and Roland says it makes restaurants looks lazy. He showed the Weekly how to make the simplest enchiladas, which is the best way to have your key ingredients shine through, and it turned out damn fantastic.More »