'Legacy of my family': Herencia offers authentic Mexican cuisine made from recipes passed down through generations

Herencia’s menu is made up of Mexican recipes passed down for generations.

“Herencia in Spanish means ‘heritage’ and this entire concept is based on the rich legacy of my family, the Valdovinos family,” said Henrique Valdovinos, chef and owner of Herencia. “The rich influence that my grandmother and mother had on my cooking style is displayed in every one of my dishes.”

Valdovinos said he tried to capture the natural flavors of Mexico City.

'Legacy of my family': Herencia offers authentic Mexican cuisine made from recipes passed down through generations

“In my house, growing up, there were always certain flavors present,” he explained. “Growing up in a modest environment, I learned to appreciate the simplicity of our food from a very young age, many dishes my mother prepared for us have been converted to unique flavors and authentic Mexican delicacies here at Herencia. My training and experience as a chef for more than 50 years have been embellished by the traditions carried by my family.”

Herencia is a vision that’s been years in the making for Valdovinos. The restaurant opened in September.

“Being present in the Northeast Heights corridor has always been my desire,” he said.

The restaurant, which once housed a Greek restaurant, has been completely remodeled. It boasts murals by local artist, Noé Barnett, that feature portraits of Valdovinos’ family intertwined with Mexican inspired art and flora.

“I hope we can provide a unique experience for everyone that comes here, not only with our flavors and presentations, but also with the level of service we offer,” Valdovinos said.

Herencia’s menu showcases flavors passed down from generation to generation in the Valdovinos family. Valdovinos grew up in Mexico and moved to New Mexico in 1995.

“I have a couple of recipes that are over 100 years old, and they’re fantastic flavors,” he said. “That’s how I put the menu together.”

Gluten-free diets are welcome here, with Herencia’s menu being almost 100% gluten-free. The only exception is its choco flan, which features chocolate cake.

“There are no major issues with (having a gluten-free menu) and that’s because of the products that we use,” Valdovinos explained. “We use our heirloom corn, that is the cleanest corn you can ever have. We make our tortillas from scratch and everything that is served at the restaurant is made at the restaurant, that includes chorizos, salsas, moles, our pickled jalapeños, everything literally is created here. And that’s always been my intention.”

He added, that as a chef, he wanted to create a restaurant that was not just standard Mexican or northern Mexican food, but rather upscale Mexican cuisine that incorporated the flavors of Mexico City, Guadalajara and Mazatlán, Mexico, where his grandmother was born.

Valdovinos said he loves how the menu has attracted a variety of different patrons.

“I think that the top of the line (are) the crab enchiladas and the lobster enchiladas,” he said. “Those are two that are very much requested, the crab, we serve it during lunch, lobster during dinner. Then we also have a tenderloin with a chipotle crema that is out of this world. It’s sensational, extremely tender. And then there is another one, Carne en su Jugo that has a very unique flavor native to Guadalajara ... Ours is a different level because of the type of meat that I use for this specific dish and that has a lot of requests.”

The Carne en su Jugo is top round beef simmered in a tomatillo broth.

He added that Herencia’s rib-eye with mole sauce, chicken and mole, as well as the fish dishes snapper Veracruz and the Camarones de Ajillo, which consists of sauteed jumbo shrimp prepared in a roasted garlic butter and white wine sauce, also are popular requests.

Herencia’s taco options also continue to be a hit.

The mini street tacos are served on small corn tortillas that are made in house. There are four different meats in the taco sampler: Carne en su Jugo, Pollo a Las Brazas (grilled chicken with garlic, lime and pasilla butter), pork al pastor and carne asada. The taco tray is for sharing and larger appetites. It comes with two or three meats of your choice and all the trimmings including rice, beans, salsas, pickled jalapeños and serranos toreados, which are serrano chiles blistered over a grill or on a smooth, flat griddle called a comal.

The evening menu offers seafood tacos that have octopus, crab meat, shrimp and scallops. Lobster tacos are also offered some nights.

“Those are large tacos that we do with either a lobster or a seafood mix with cilantro, onion, tomato and a little bit of jalapeño, very light, because we don’t want to offend the seafood palette,” Valdovinos said.

Each meal begins with Herencia’s version of chips and salsa. Warm triangles of housemade tortillas are served with three different salsas, including a salsa made with three dried chiles that serves as the base for the restaurant’s mole sauce. It is made with pasilla, guajillo and ancho chiles.

“We have several salsas and we only present three because those are our primaries for us,” Valdovinos explained. “And there is a reason behind them, like the tomatillo salsa for example, that used to be on my mom’s table in my mom’s house, every single day of my entire life, she always had tomatillo salsa on her table. Then we have a roasted salsa that is made with roasted vegetables and we call it salsa ranchera. And we used to use that one every time we had carnitas and chicharrones (fried pork skins) with fresh tortillas and aguacate (avocado).”

Other salsas that are available upon request have more heat.

“We also have a peanut sauce that has chile de arbol, so that one has a lot of bite to it,” Valdovinos said. “If they want heat, they’re gonna find it there. And then we also have an avocado lime salsa that we use on our different dishes.”

The chips served are not fried and stem from northern Mexico.

“The flavor of the heirloom corn is spectacular, so that’s one of the reasons we don’t fry it,” Valdovinos said. “I wanted to make sure that people had the ability to just dip into the salsas and enjoy it the way I feel it should be done.”

Herencia does not have guacamole on the menu, instead it offers avocado in a purer form.

“We have mashed avocados with lime and salt, which is basically the flavors that we used to have (growing up),” Valdovinos said.

Patrons can end their meal with a smooth, creamy and flavorful flan. Valdovinos said he struggled with what kind of dessert to put on the menu and initially went with a cheese flan to see how it would fare with guests. The restaurant now has a variety of different flans on the menu. The flans are served with pecan caramel and fresh whipped cream, both made in-house.

“We have a cheese flan, we have a choco flan that has chocolate cake, and that’s the only item that we have on our menu that actually has gluten on it because of the chocolate cake,” he said. “And then we have a pecan flan, a coconut flan and an arroz con leche (rice pudding) flan. We’re working on adding one more. We’re going to do a mango flan.”