Best Latin

1 Molli Café 1225 Burrard St., mollicafe.com 2 El Santo 680 Columbia St., New Westminster, elsanto.ca 3 Fayuca 1009 Hamilton St., fayuca.ca

honourable mentions Cacao, Los Cuervos

Looking at this list, it’s amazing to think that even a few years ago it was common to hear the whine: “We have no good Mexican in No Fun City.” Quality has never been a problem with Gold Medal winner Molli

Café— the Saturday-only lamb consommé is legendary, and they create little low-key taco miracles daily—but their location on atough-to-access section of Burrard has plagued them since day one (and they’ve noted they’ll likely be closing shop soon). The location of our Silver medallist, El Santo, is New West, and while that might have been ahindrance in years past, these days the Royal City’s food scene is hopping (thanks mostly to El Santo’s great mix of cocktails and casual Mexican made with top-quality ingredients). And our third-place finisher—the newcomer Fayuca— is the most ambitious of them all, with an intense focus on Mexico’s heretofore locally unknown cuisine from the north Pacific coast.