From Our Family's Kitchen in Oaxaca to Your Table in Fredericksburg
La Mesa Cocina was opened in 2017 by Rosa and Eduardo Ramirez, who moved to Virginia from Oaxaca, Mexico in 2008. For years, Rosa cooked for friends and family from a small apartment kitchen. Word spread. People offered to pay. She kept cooking.
When the space on Caroline Street became available, Eduardo took the leap. They signed the lease with three months of savings and opened with 8 tables, a 4-item menu, and Rosa's mother's mole recipe.
Today the restaurant seats 65, employs 14 people, and has been featured in the Free Lance-Star, Virginia Living Magazine, and WUSA9's "Best Bites" segment. But the food has not changed. Rosa still makes the mole herself every Tuesday morning. The tortillas are still made by hand, by the same masa press Rosa's mother used in Oaxaca.