If you're looking for Oaxacan food in NYC, head to this Mexican restaurant in Queens

On a recent Wednesday evening, the dining room at Juquila was full of families, couples and friends. Many were dipping homemade tortilla chips into a creamy black-bean dip or breaking into crab legs in the cazuela de mariscos (a loaded seafood stew).

They were savoring the work of chef Antonio Peña, who is often at the kitchen early to prep the day’s meals. On a typical day, he begins his morning behind huge bubbling pots of green tomatillos, bright red chiles, and pork bones. To give depth, richness and spiciness to the barbacoa enchilada, he toasts three kinds of dried red chile peppers: guajillo, de árbol, and costeño.

Juquila opened in Elmhurst in 2019, with the aim of going heavy on traditional Oaxacan Mexican dishes.

That yearslong collaboration between the chef and owner — who both have Oaxacan lineage — has been at the root of what still draws crowds even on weeknights.

Most Mexican Americans live in California or Texas, which are famous for their Mexican cuisine. Still, people with Mexican origins make up the third-largest demographic among New York City’s 3.1 million immigrants. The majority of them hail from Puebla, influencing much of “Puebla York” fare here — think mole poblano, tacos placeros, and the grab-and-go nature of tacos, particularly from the back of bodegas.

And Queens, which is home to the city’s largest Hispanic population, serves up some of the biggest defense to any criticism that there’s no good Mexican food in New York.

Juquila’s opening is actually a reopening. The restaurant originally debuted in 2014 and was owned by Darion Mendez’s parents: his father Cristobal Bonilla, a former chef with a resume that includes Giorgio’s of Gramercy and Le Bernardin, and his mother Rosa, a longtime server. Peña has worked the kitchen since day one.

Since many Mexican restaurants in New York pull from the Puebla region, Juquila stood out for showcasing Bonilla’s native Oaxacan fare. He later opened a now-closed Juquila offshoot inside the Holiday Inn in Long Island City, where Mendez learned the ins-and-outs of the restaurant business.

In 2019, Mendez took over the lease in Elmhurst and reopened Juquila under his command. Thankfully, Peña decided to stay, and together they’ve created a partnership that’s preserved the recipes customers loved during the restaurant’s early days. They said they’ve also brought in new demographics of diners outside of the local Mexican and Hispanic communities.

Currently, about 30% of the menu constitutes Oaxacan food. The rest are dishes from Puebla and national Mexican dishes like chiles en nogada (stuffed peppers in a pecan, cashew and almond cream) and pozole (a traditional hominy and meat stew), but “there’s always a Oaxacan touch,” Mendez explained. In Oaxacan cuisine, the sauces are thicker, the dishes are heavy on herbs, and black beans are blended into a creamy texture rather than served whole.

At Juquila, an exquisitely smooth black-bean dip in particular has a subtle vegetal flavor that stems from toasted avocado leaves. It appears as a complimentary appetizer alongside homemade tortilla chips as well as a topping on tlayudas (a crackly pizza pie-sized tortilla with toppings), and a side for rice.

The tlayuda is one of several Oaxacan specialties Mendez and Peña ushered out of relative obscurity and into the restaurant. Other regional dishes are present, too. The barbacoa enchilada is smoky with a subtle spiciness that develops and punches at the end. The goat dishes — consommé de chivo and birria goat — spotlight the beloved meat of Oaxaca.

Oaxaca, called the “land of seven moles,” actually has hundreds of moles in its repertoire. At Juquila, at least six have been served. For the mole de boda, a time-consuming production typically reserved for weddings, Peña toasts chiles and reduces the chile paste into a near-black sauce rooted in Oaxacan chocolate. For the ​​costillas en huaxmole verde, Peña coats tender pork ribs in a green mole of bittersweet, garlicky guaje seeds.

On special holidays like Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16, the restaurant becomes a celebratory space for the community. Peña typically whips up labor-intensive national dishes like chiles en nogada, for which the staff peel each pomegranate seed, one by one. Up to 200 pounds of fresh maize on the cob gets prepared for pozole.

“This is hard work,” said Peña. “You have to love what you do. And I love what I do. I love working here. I love the owner. It’s peaceful. Nobody bothers me.”

The respect is mutual.

“We agree to everything he does, because I know it sells,” said Mendez. “I have a bond with him, too, like a brother. I know we’re in good hands and I can just take my mind off the kitchen and run the business side. So it's really teamwork.”