I haven't been able to check it out yet, but a new restaurant can't always wait for the perfect time.
Linda emailed me last week about a new Elkridge restaurant called Maria's Bajas Cafe on U.S. 1. Linda said they it opened a few weeks ago, and she learned about it from a post on her husband's Facebook wall. She says it is in the strip center right next to R&R Taqueria at Rte 175 and U.S. 1 and provided this short report:
The place is family owned. We stopped in yesterday and the owner was cooking in the kitchen while his wife and daughter waited tables.
My husband and daughter got the fried tilapia and we were shocked to see a whole fish arrive on each plate, certainly not what we would expect from a strip restaurant. It was perfectly cooked and well seasoned.
I opted for the chicken taquitos and they were really flavorful, nice and crispy outside with a light chicken filling inside, served over a bed of lettuce. We started and ended our meal with plantains, fried plantains for an appetizer and a desert of plantains stuffed with some kind of sweet filling, both very good.
The owner stopped at our table to talk with us and mentioned that he does fried chicken and does all his frying to order so it takes a bit longer for the food to come out but you know it is fresh and made just for you.
I'm planning on heading back one day for lunch to give the fried chicken a try. There restaurant was clean and there was plenty of table seating as well as bar seating (no liquor is served). We really enjoyed our meal and are happy to have found an independently owned place that serves what feels like authentic food in a family friendly environment.Does anyone know more? I need to drive past for a photo and a chance to check out Maria's. Linda and I joked with each other that normal folks don't think to photograph their food, but I always appreciate these reports -- and doubly if you snap a cell phone photo before you start.
Maria's Bajas Cafe
7880 Washington Boulevard (U.S. 1)
Elkridge, MD 21075
NEAR: Linda says this is in the strip center right next to the Shell station and R&R Taqueria. They're on U.S. 1 at the intersection with Rte 175.
Sounds very good to me! I'll have to go check it out.
ReplyDeleteI went to Maria's for dinner tonight and tried a bean & cheese papusa, a asada taco, and a beef burrito. It's a family run place and clean and well lit. They have a bar, but I couldn't see any alcohol (yet?), nor did they have a soda fountain (bottles & cans only). The menu is quite short, but provides good coverage of the basics and they have a daily special as well. They have a breakfast menu which looked good, so maybe I'll come back and sample breakfast some time.
ReplyDeleteThe waitress was very nice, friendly and knowledgable about the menu.
Since it's right near R&R, I had high expectations which were unfortunately not met. It's not that the food is bad, it tastes like home cooking, but R&R tastes better than home cooking. The burrito was a good deal at $7 for a quite large burrito stuffed full. It was pretty tasty and my favorite out of the three items I tried. The asada taco was a bit bland, especially compared to R&R. It wasn't bad, and I certainly didn't mind eating it, but it wasn't "wow." The papusa was somewhat disappointing - it came out last and still tasted under cooked, at least compared to the ones I've had off of food trucks and at Pollo Felicitas.