Three years after opening its doors on North Main Street, Pennington’s La Unica has earned an honor few restaurants in New Jersey can claim.
On Aug. 12, the restaurant received the SELLO M, a distinction awarded by Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mexican Academy of Gastronomy recognizing restaurants outside Mexico that preserve and promote authentic Mexican cuisine. La Unica is the only restaurant in Mercer County to receive the designation and one of only a few in Central Jersey.
The recognition comes as Mexico marks the 15th anniversary of UNESCO’s designation of traditional Mexican cuisine as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
For chef and co-owner Rafael “Rafa” Ponce de Leon, the award represents something far more meaningful than another plaque on the wall.
“It’s more than that,” he said. “It’s the Mexican authority saying your restaurant is a real restaurant.”
A rigorous review
Unlike awards based on customer reviews or popularity, the SELLO M recognizes restaurants that demonstrate authenticity through their recipes, ingredients, culinary techniques and expertise.
According to the program, applicants are evaluated by a panel of experts from the Mexican Academy of Gastronomy through a rigorous review process designed to verify the quality and authenticity of each establishment. Restaurants apply through Mexico’s embassies and consulates abroad, with the program recognizing restaurants, food trucks, catering businesses and other culinary ventures that preserve authentic Mexican gastronomy outside Mexico.
Mariana Díaz, head consul at the Mexican Consulate in New Brunswick, said La Unica’s application demonstrated exactly what the academy was seeking.
“This distinction was not an easy thing to do,” Díaz said during the presentation ceremony. “Their application… had to really show that this was an authentic Mexican restaurant with authentic Mexican food recipes, that there were Mexican products that were used, that they had somebody in the kitchen that knew what they were doing.”
The academy ultimately selected La Unica to receive the distinction.
“We’re very proud of your efforts. We’re very proud of your work, and we feel also very proud to see a Mexican doing so well and sharing our delicious gastronomy,” Díaz said.
Bringing authentic Mexico to Pennington
When Ponce de Leon and his wife, Monica Saldivar, opened La Unica in 2023, their goal wasn’t simply to open another Mexican restaurant. It was to share the food they grew up with and the regional traditions that define Mexican cuisine.
Ponce de Leon said one of the biggest challenges was sourcing the authentic ingredients needed to recreate those flavors.
“The challenge was… to find the native ingredients,” he said, describing trips to suppliers in New York, Philadelphia and Trenton before finding products that met his standards.
He said many restaurants adapt Mexican food to American tastes.
“Usually when a certain type of food enters a country, it’s tropicalized,” he said, explaining that authentic Mexican cuisine is far more diverse than the familiar “creamy, cheesy, spicy” stereotype often associated with it in the United States.
Even something as simple as a tortilla became part of that pursuit. Rather than settling for any supplier, Ponce de Leon searched until he found one using the traditional process of fermenting corn before making masa.
A distinction that reaches beyond New Jersey
Receiving the SELLO M also places La Unica among recognized Mexican restaurants around the world.
Díaz said restaurants earning the distinction are included on an international website featuring authentic Mexican restaurants in countries across Europe, Asia and beyond.
“My dream would be that somebody’s traveling to New Jersey and wants to try Mexican food,” she said. “Then they go to that website, and then they want to visit these places.”
For Ponce de Leon, the distinction is a source of pride.
“Now I’m really proud of Mexico,” he said. “All Mexican cuisine is unique.”
With the SELLO M displayed on its door, La Unica has earned recognition not only from its customers, but from the country whose culinary traditions it set out to preserve.
