La Cazuela is a restaurant featuring the distinctive cuisines of Mexico and the American Southwest. We take our name from the earthenware cooking pot traditionally used in Mexican kitchens. It symbolizes our cooking style, which is based on hand crafted preparation using the rich spices and ingredients of Mexican food.
Mexican cooking is a classic cuisine that combines numerous cultural traditions.
The Aztecs and Mayans cooked with corn, chiles, beans and tomatoes, to which the Spanish made their contribution, including garlic, olives, rice, cinnamon and dried meats. Through this blending of cultures the food evolved, taking on different characteristics from each region of Mexico and spreading further into North America where it was influenced by yet more cultures and ingredients. We draw from many parts of this rich and varied tradition for our menu. We offer some well-known favorites that are commonly associated with Mexican food in this country, while also presenting some that may be new to you and representative of fine dining throughout Mexico and the Southwest. La Cazuela was started in 1984 by partners Rosemary Schmidt and Barry Steeves, who left professional careers in Washington, D.C. and moved to Northampton to carve out a new life in a small but vibrant community.