Christian Muñoz was born into the world of Mexican restaurants. His father, one of 11 siblings from Jalisco, is part of a restaurant dynasty of Altos de Jalisco Mexican Grills and El Ranchero Mexican Restaurants that dot the local landscape from West Virginia to Western Maryland to Winchester.
But the younger Muñoz, who grew up in West Virginia, wasn’t satisfied to serve approachable Tex-Mex. He did a year of culinary school in Mexico City and studied the art of the mole in Oaxaca. The result? Mancha Cocina Mexicana, a restaurant that opened in the corner of a Leesburg strip mall in late spring.
Working with chef Edwin Valle, who cooked for 15 years at famed chef Richard Sandoval’s recently closed La Sandia in Tysons Corner Center, Muñoz’s goal is to innovate on his family’s proven formula. “I wanted to do some new stuff, compared to what my family’s done before,” he says. “Something a little more authentic.”
The centerpiece of that is the mole negro that he learned from a specialist in its homeland. The 25 ingredients include everything from a selection of chiles and nuts to plantains and raisins. Diners familiar with the deep, dark sauce will expect the mouth-coating, chocolaty flavor. It’s slightly sweet but never oversteps into the realm of dessert.
At Mancha, the cinnamon-redolent sauce coats a choice of chicken thighs or enchiladas. The latter are stuffed full of pulled poultry, doused in sauce, then drizzled with crema and dotted with queso fresco.
After a successful first few months, the restaurant is adding more dishes diners won’t find elsewhere in Loudoun County. Muñoz says that they’ll soon include Yucatecan classic cochinita pibil, deeply marinated pork that’s traditionally prepared wrapped in banana leaves, as well as sopes.
With the restaurant’s stark white dining room, Mancha is a new generation of Mexican restaurant, owing more to Mexico City than West Virginia. Mancha Cocina Mexicana, 200 Fort Evans Rd. NE, Leesburg
Feature image by Jeff Heeney
This story originally ran in our September issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
