Tucked away in Somers Point, El Costeño is a new Mexican restaurant worth seeking out.
Like El Costeño’s mind-blowing mole sauce. Served as a viscous, maroon-hued blend, it is loaded with diverse elements like plantains, apples, raisins, poblano peppers, Mexican chocolate and pumpkin seeds. Simmered two to three hours, this masterful production yields a flavor profile simultaneously activating all four primary tastes — sweet, salty, sour and bitter — to full effect.
It’s really one of the world’s most elevated sauces, right up there with the best of French, Italian and Asian cuisine.
The third leg of El Costeños’s management and ownership structure is financial backer Oliver Cisneros, a longtime friend.
Asked why he selected this location, Eulogio explains: “Because there weren’t any Mexican places in Somers Point.”
Opened on May 28 of this year, the eatery seems to have gained a nice foothold already. One of the secrets of its sudden success is certainly the concept of small-batch cookery along with an emphasis on spontaneous cuisine.
“I don’t cook a lot [in advance],” Eulogio says,
By only prepping limited amounts of certain fairly popular items, like approximately 25 tamales daily, quality control is maintained. This way, he would rather sell out of an item when it is fresh and in ideal condition, than have anything left at the end of a night.
Toward that end, Villavicencio — born into a Mexican restaurant family — makes fresh tortillas in-house, each and every day. Together, they have created a diverse menu of standard favorites and unexpected specialties.
Like the steak El Costeño, buried in a surprising peanut sauce that offers moments of heat coupled with the natural sweetness of that popular legume. Even a common item like chiles rayenos de res gets special treatment here. Enormous poblanos are stuffed with a blend of ground beef, pork, apples, pears and nuts plus a “special cream” called nogada prior to being coated in light breading and roasted. Or a made-to-order, par-cooked seviche combining flounder, scallops, calamari and shrimp with lime and orange juices, cilantro, onion and hot sauce.
Animated and intense, Eulogio’s hands almost never stop moving during our hour-long interview, despite those scars. It seems somehow apropos that a guy who derives from a coastal town nearly 2,500 miles away — called “The Hidden Port” — should deliver a tiny, hidden gem like El Costeño to the Jersey shore.
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You've heard the cliché about the eyes being too big for the stomach? Well, that aphorism certainly held true for dining partner Dan and me during our visit to Mexico Restaurant & Bar in Atlantic City. We found the restaurant's extensive menu so-o-o tempting, and observed the dishes being served to diners at nearby tables to be very colorful and eye-appealing. Since brothers Marcos and Baruh Villa, natives of Oaxaca, Mexico, opened Mexico Restaurant & Bar eight years ago, it has become a favorite place for diners seeking authentic Mexican cuisine (not Tex-Mex) served in a bright, cheerful atmosphere. While Marcos keeps everything running smoothly in the front of the restaurant, Baruh puts his 20 years of chef's experience to good stead by turning out "made from scratch" Mexican goodies from the kitchen. Mexico Restaurant & Bar has a plain storefront exterior, but the décor of the dining rooms and bar exhibit pleasing Mexican influences. The main dining room has pottery, serapes and sombreros decorating the walls, and red, green and white banners (the color of Mexico's flag) with images of famous Mexican heroes hanging from the ceiling. The tables are topped with glass-covered white cloths. Although the restaurant was very...
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1. R. Wallace said... on Sep 12, 2012 at 06:49PM
“I LOVE THIS PLACE!!! Right across from Clancy's.”