Masks from the owner’s native Oaxaca hang on the walls at Restaurante Serrano, where the fresh guacamole is made on-demand with a mortar and pestle. Fresh, homey food awaits at Restaurante Mi Laurita, owned by Irma Roblero de Morales and Benigno Morales. Platters, such as their carne asada (right), are served with rice and house-made black beans.
We tucked into a hearty bowl of beef soup, spiked with carrots and potatoes. It was warm and homey and tasted like something Señora Morales would serve at home.
The platters at Selbyville’s Cactus Cafe are as colorful as the restaurant’s interior. Tilapia gets served head-on at Easton’s Taqueria y Polleria La Amistad, and diners slurp down seafood soup at Annapolis’s Las Delicias.
The red and green salsas are tasty on tacos at Annapolis’s Restaurante Serrano, but we recommend the pink pickled onions, too. Colorful murals depicting village life in Guatemala adorn the walls at Georgetown’s Restaurante Mi Laurita, while dangling parrots set the festive mood at Cactus Cafe.
The area’s burgeoning Latino population has brought with it a fantastic selection of new restaurants to the region. But where to eat?
CL staffers traveled through-out the Eastern and western shores tasting tortillas, guacamole, and some muy bueno mole sauce. Here’s a sampling of restaurants to whet your appetite.
Restaurante Serrano
At Restaurante Serrano, you might want to have dessert first, as their tres leches cake, the heavenly Mexican dessert made with three kinds of milk, is the best we’ve tasted anywhere. But if you did that, you might not have room for a birria (a combination of beef, pork, and lamb) taco, hearty lamb barbacoa (barbeque), or spicy shrimp served in their shells.
Alberto Serrano and Gonzalo Fernandez opened their storefront restaurant in 2001. (They also own Annapolis’s Jalapeños restaurant.) Sit in one of the vinyl upholstered booths near the restaurant’s entrance to watch the staff make fresh guacamole by hand in a mortar and pestle at the small bar, or grab an individual table in the larger, pale yellow dining room decorated with ceramic masks and wrought-iron chandeliers.
Wherever you sit, expect lively food presented on brightly colored Fiestaware by friendly servers.
“Here is original [Mexican food],” says Serrano, a native of Oaxaca, Mexico. “It’s what you’ll find on the streets of Oaxaca.”
Don’t miss: Tres leches cake, flan with orange peel, pickled onions from the condiment tray. 2129 Forest Dr., Annapolis. 410-573-9200, http://www.restauranteserrano.com.—M.Z.
Las Delicias
Las Delicias bills itself as fine Salvadoran and French cuisine—not a combination you see often (if ever). But when owner Ruben Zepeda moved to the United States in 1981 from his native El Salvador, his first job was cooking at a French restaurant in Washington, D.C. Las Delicias pays homage to both that experience and Zepeda’s homeland by offering distinctly Continental preparations like flounder sautéed with mushrooms, capers, and lemon butter sauce, and pupusas, the traditional Salvadoran dish of pork-, bean-, or cheese-stuffed tortillas. Customers seem to embrace the restaurant’s schizophrenia. On the day of our visit, one woman eating solo praises the restaurant’s french fries, while two young men in sweatshirts and jeans inhale sopa de mariscos, seafood soup chock-full of clams, shrimp, mussels, scallops, and rockfish. We ordered a sampler platter of Salvadoran specialties, including the pupusas, yucca con chicharron (deep fried yucca with fried pork), and fried plantains. That’s a lot of frying. Next time, we’ll try that soup.
Don’t miss: Wash everything down with a fresh, house-made refresca de fruta (fruit drink) in mango, passionfruit, or guanabana. 626 G. Admiral Dr., Annapolis. 410-573-0500.—M.Z.
Martitha’s
Don’t let your limited Spanish prevent you from visiting Martitha’s, an almost blindingly bright storefront in a small Annapolis strip mall. The restaurant specializes in Mexican and Salvadoran cooking (with a Honduran dish or two thrown in), and like many ethnic takeaways, photos of numbered platters of food are backlit above the counter and reproduced on a glossy takeaway menu, making it easy to order your platter in Spanish or English, by number, or just by pointing. Menu items range from hearty stews to fried whole fish (with head and tail intact) to tacos, both soft and fried, but turn to the back of the menu for a dizzying array of Salvadoran breakfast options (most include eggs, beans, avocados, and meat).
Don’t miss: Baleadas, the Honduran version of a burrito, stuffed with scrambled eggs, beans, cheese, and Mexican crema. 1912 Forest Dr., Annapolis. 410-263-1011; 602 Crain Hwy. N., Glen Burnie, Md. 410-424-3974.—M.Z.
La Michoacana Taqueria
There’s something utterly homey about La Michoacana Taqueria, Ramona and Jesus Sandoval’s nine-year-old white cinderblock restaurant located on sleepy Church Street in Selbyville, Del. Red roses bloom outside the side entrance, an appropriate complement to the small shrine to Our Lady of Guadelupe that borders the parking lot. Despite fluorescent lighting and soda cases, the inside still feels decidedly old-fashioned, with a glowing black-and-white tiled floor and a menu handwritten on the white board just above the cash register. It’s mostly tacos here—ten varieties including tripa (tripe), lengua (tongue), and the juicy chunks of barbecued beef known as barbacoa stuffed into homemade tortillas—but you can also try quesadillas, gorditas, and tamales. Don’t forget to stock up on Mexican food items at the mercado located next door. Open 9 a.m.-9 p.m., seven days a week, although the restaurant occasionally closes on a Tuesday to give the owners a well-deserved day off.
Don’t miss: Tacos filled with carne enchilada—beef cooked in red chile sauce. 84 W. Church St., Selbyville, Del. 302-436-2947.—M.Z.
Cactus Café
Selbyville’s Cactus Café was serving up fresh salsa and chorizo long before most of the other restaurants in this guide. Owner Manuel Pavon opened this outpost of Spanish-Mexican cooking way back in 1989 and has formed an intimate bond with the residents of this small town. “We are all one family—the customer and the staff,” he says. “I see the kids growing up. Years ago, I had them in my laps, and now they’re coming in for [wedding] rehearsal dinners. It’s very beautiful.”
Pavon, who was born in Spain but lived in Mexico City for a number of years, brings a Spanish twist to his mainly Mexican menu. You’ll find Mexican standbys such as fajitas and chimichangas on the menu but also an authentic Spanish paella. And seafood plays a starring role in many dishes. Pavon picks out the fish himself, choosing flounder, mahi-mahi, grouper, or whatever is available at the market. He often tops the seafood with a champagne crab meat salsa, a velvety mix of crab, cream, spices, and a healthy dose of bubbly.
The restaurant itself is a riot of colors, and the tiny pink-and-white car out front is a landmark along Route 113. Pavon bought the 1961 Nash Metropolitan “from an old lady” fifteen years ago—with just 19,000 miles on it. “It runs so smooth,” says Pavon. “It’s been in a lot of weddings...It’s famous.” Or nearly as famous in Selbyville as Pavon himself.
Don’t miss: Live mariachi music on Sundays and Wednesdays. 37 N. Dupont Hwy. (Rt. 113), Selbyville, Del. 302-436-2750; Route 54, Fenwick Station, Fenwick Island, Del. 302-436-4492.—J.S.
Restaurante Mi Laurita
The first thing we noticed about Restaurante Mi Laurita is that the menu, available at the front counter, is handwritten in a school notebook. This was a promising—and charming—sign right off, as handwritten menus usually signal fresh food. A bright blue-and-white Guatemalan flag hangs on a wall—the only one not completely adorned with colorful murals depicting village life. The restaurant, one of two in the area owned by the Morales family, only has seven tables and several stools at a counter, and nearly every seat was taken during our weekday lunch visit.
We tucked into a hearty bowl of beef soup, spiked with carrots and potatoes. It was warm and homey and tasted like something Señora Morales would serve at home. Sides of delicious pinto beans and rice accompanied the dish, and we quenched our thirst with a cup of horchata, a milky beverage served over ice with nutmeg and other spices. Be careful when applying the house-made salsa verde spiked with a pickled habanero pepper; it was hotter than a Guatemalan summer.
Don’t miss: The house-made mole sauce may be the best north of Mexico. Try it with the chicken platter. 110 N. Race St., Georgetown, Del. 302-856-3393.—J.S.
La Quetzalteca
For some, a visit to La Quetzalteca at the intersection of Routes 9 and 30, just outside of Georgetown, is an annual tradition en route to the beach. Although you’ll see pickup trucks in the small restaurant’s dusty parking lot sporting Puerto Rican flags, the restaurant features Mexican fare, and inside, nearly a dozen metal tables fill the floor in front of the counter in the pink-and-white stuccoed room. Pick up a laminated menu to see photos of numbered specials including chimichangas, chilaquiles, and chalupas. There’s even a Gringo’s Choice (N.Y. Strip Steak) and shrimp cocktail to please the mostly English speaking customers. Check out the second location on Route 24, east of Millsboro, Del. Both restaurants offer carryout.
Don’t miss: The staff touts the Quetzalteca Special—beef, chicken, shrimp, and chorizo with all the fixings for build-your-own fajitas. Corners of Routes 9 & 30, Georgetown, Del. 302-856-7003; Also on Route 24, East of Millsboro, Del. 302-934-8077.—M.Z.
Taqueria y Polleria La Amistad
Taqueria y Polleria La Amistad is full of clean, fresh flavors—not a single ingredient originates from a Sysco can—and the food leaves you feeling pleasantly sated, not stuffed. Menu highlights include steak sautéed with onions, tomatoes, and jalapeños; and tilapia filet cooked in a light garlic sauce—made all the more refreshing with a side salad of greens, radish wedges, a hunk of avocado, and a lime wedge. Among the authentic touches are serapes mounted on the dining area’s brick wall and a bevy of packaged baked goods by El Amigo Bakery in Annapolis. And talk about one-stop-shopping: Spanish-brand groceries, from mole sauce to shampoo, and heaps of Latino CDs are found at the counter. Who needs Wal-Mart?
Don’t Miss: The chorizo sausage and chicken platter. 306 E. Dover St., Easton, Md. 410-819-3666.—K.B.
El Maguey
If you can’t find your favorite Mexican dish at El Maguey, tucked away on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, you’re not going to find it anywhere. The menu’s 116 offerings include tacos made ten ways, whole grilled fish, and house-made flan. A festive study in ponchos, sombreros, and twinkling lights, the local Latino clientele packs the restaurant at mealtime, dining alongside everyone from farmers to bankers.
Don’t Miss: Fried ice cream. Really, don’t knock it until you try it. 2638 Lankford Hwy., Exmore, Va. 757-442-2900.—K.B.
The Chain Gang
La Tolteca, La Tonalteca, and Plaza Tapatia
It’s no secret that many Mexican restaurants on the Eastern Shore are owned and run by families that know each other, but the family ties that connect three of the largest restaurant groups are so complicated that they confuse even the restaurant owners themselves. Romero Herrera, who, with his brother Benjamin and another partner, owns Rehoboth’s La Tonalteca, is the brother-in-law of Armando Salvana, one of the four partners who own Plaza Tapatia, a restaurant with five locations on the Eastern Shore, including the first location in Ocean City and the newest in Salisbury. Salvanas have also married into the Martinez family, which owns La Tolteca, another outpost for Mexican food in Salisbury. And if this isn’t confusing enough, Herrera is convinced that he, too, is related to Alfonso Martinez.
“He might be a brother-in-law to a cousin’s uncle,” Herrera jokes, “We’re all from Guadalajara, and we’re all related.”
Martinez and Herrera’s journeys to restaurant ownership are fairly similar. Both came from families who immigrated to California as migrant workers before moving to Atlanta to work in Mexican restaurants in the 1980s. In the 1990s, they moved north, with Herrera and Salvana opening a restaurant together in Manassas, Va., in 1995, before each joined with different family members to open restaurants on the Eastern Shore.
Martinez opened La Tolteca in 1999. Both Martinez and Herrera point out the similarities between the three restaurant chains. Besides sharing a customer base that is mostly English-speaking, all three restaurants boast brightly colored interiors, zippy Tejano music over the loudspeakers, and menus that include what Martinez calls “a mix for everyone”—some Tex-Mex standards like burritos, and specialties from Guadalajara including carne asada (grilled steak), chile verde con carne (pork with green salsa made from tomatillos), and carnitas (pork seasoned with beer and orange juice). “It’s really the same type of food,” says Herrera with a laugh. “Each restaurant just has a different way to serve it. In the end, you’re going to end up with the same plate.”—M.Z.
