Regional dishes showcase diversity of Mexican cuisine in Lansing

As you may have learned on the previous page, Lansing has a rich Mexican heritage, which is evident in the scores of Mexican restaurants scattered around the area. Many serve a Tex-Mex style of cuisine, which utilizes shredded cheese, sour cream, flour tortillas and corn tortilla chips to add an American flair to traditional Mexican fare. However, some have individualized their menus with staple dishes from the region of Mexico most familiar to them — or, in some cases, mashups of Mexican dishes with other global cuisines. City Pulse writers have gathered six examples of regional dishes at local eateries for those who would like to fully explore all the Mexican food scene has to offer.

 

Mulitas — northern Mexico

Taqueria Monarca

1801 N. Grand River Ave., Lansing

Though Taqueria Monarca was named after the monarch butterfly, which spends the winters in the western Mexican state of Michoacán, where co-owner Mario Quintero is originally from, the food truck specializes in northern Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine. This can be credited to Quintero’s wife, Ana Cavazos, who grew up in the border city of Laredo, Texas.

One northern Mexican staple Cavazos brought to the menu was the mulita, a street food that originated in Tijuana. Monarca’s mulitas comprise two corn tortillas, filled with cheese and a choice of meat. They’re griddled in oil until crispy and served with onions, cilantro, a lime wedge and salsa on the side.

“It’s basically like a small quesadilla,” Quintero said.

While the mulitas are popular, Quintero noted that the food truck’s burritos, also a mainstay of northern Mexican cuisine, are the fan-favorite menu item.

“On the border, a lot of people know burritos,” he said. “In the south, you’re going to see a lot of tacos and quesadillas and things like that, but you’re not going to see too many burritos on the menus. It’s a northern thing.”

 

Birria — western Mexico

La Catrina Mexican Food Truck

2778 E. Grand River Ave.,

East Lansing

La Catrina food truck is a slice of Guadalajara in front of Whole Foods Market in East Lansing. The truck has a regular menu that includes Mexican classics such as tacos, burritos and tostadas, but it also has a special menu for its birria.

Birria is red meat — in La Catrina’s Case, beef — that’s stewed in chili peppers, herbs and spices for several hours. The meat is shredded and served with the broth of the stew. On the birria menu, customers will find a three-taco dinner special with rice and beans, a quesadilla, burritos, nachos and beyond.

Luis Anaya opened La Catrina two months ago. He said he “wanted to do something for myself and my family.” They’re from the state of Jalisco, where birria originated. 

“I think I managed to make it taste like Jalisco,” Anaya said, “a very difficult thing to do.”

 

Chicken mole poblano  —  south-central Mexico

Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant

311 E. César E. Chávez Ave.,

Lansing

2010 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing

Pablo Maldonado, owner of two Lansing restaurants, originally hails from the south-central Mexican state of Puebla. When he opened his first eatery in Old Town in 2005, he sought to share dishes he’d grown up eating — most importantly, mole poblano.

The term “mole” has come to define a range of Mexican sauces, but perhaps the most popular in the United States is mole poblano. This variety, made from a blend of dried chili peppers and chocolate, among various other ingredients, is thick, rich, earthy and sometimes spicy.

“The Chicken mole poblano has five to eight ingredients for the mole sauce,” Maldonado told City Pulse in 2023. “It’s very popular in Puebla. Probably one of the most successful dishes over there. So, we decided to bring it here.”

 

Panuchos/Cecina —  southern Mexico

Maria’s Cuisine

516 E. César E. Chávez Ave.,

Lansing

Maria’s Cuisine offers food from southern Mexico, specifically from the state of Campeche, which is part of the Yucatán Peninsula. Generally, the region’s cuisine is influenced by Mayan traditions, Spanish and Caribbean flavors and seafood, given the coastal location. 

Two of owner Maria Sotelo’s specialties from her native region are panuchos and cecina. Panuchos are made in different ways, she said, but “we deep fry masa (dough made from corn) in a tortilla shape, but much thinner – to a golden crisp.” They’re topped with refried beans, meat, lettuce, tomato, pickled red onions, avocado, sour cream and queso fresco.

Cecina, meanwhile, is thinly sliced — and very flavorful — cured beef. “We prepare it by sautéing it with onions and serve it with a little lettuce, pico de gallo, slices of avocado, rice, beans and tortillas,” Sotelo said. Cecina can also be added to the restaurant’s tacos.

 

Wet burrito — Michigan

Alicia’s Authentic Mexican

Deli & Catering

5025 N. Grand River Ave., Ste. 3,

Lansing

Alicia Gonzales, owner of Alicia’s Authentic Mexican Cuisine, grew up in Texas. Many of her recipes originate from her Mexican-born grandmother, who taught her mother. Gonzales said that if she had to assign a category to her cuisine, it would be Tex-Mex. Her most famed and beloved offering, however, might be her wet burrito, which the Beltline Bar in Grand Rapids claims to have created in the 1960s.

The inspiration for Gonzales’ specialty came from her pre-restaurant-owning days. She had a co-worker who often wanted to go out to eat at bars that offered “their version” of wet burritos.

“They were so disgusting,” she said.

Her secrets for a great wet burrito include placing the lettuce, tomatoes and other veggies on the outside, where they can stay fresh and crisp. Another is her homemade sauce or gravy — the same as her enchilada sauce — which includes flour that has been browned and a moderate amount of chili powder among the spices.

“The key to the whole thing is the sauce,” she said.

 

Birria ramen — fusion

Takitos AF

325 Riverfront Drive, Lansing

When he started Takitos AF in January 2024, Ivan Vera wanted to bring the flavors of the southwestern Mexican state of Guerrero and the central state of Guanajuato to the Lansing community — with a twist. The menu features a variety of customizable Mexican-style dishes, both traditional and non-traditional.

“It’s a mix of what I grew up eating, and then there’s some Tex-Mex and newer fusion as well,” Vera said.

For him, the most important menu item is the taquitos — rolled, fried tortillas with a meat or veggie filling — made the way his grandmother taught him. 

“The taquitos are where it all started,” Vera said. “They were my grandma and grandpa’s go-tos whenever we would go over to their house.” 

The restaurant’s most popular menu item, the birria ramen, fuses Mexican and Japanese staples. Served in an instant ramen cup, the dish contains noodles cooked in birria broth, shredded birria meat, onion, cilantro and two cheese taquitos.