WAILUA HOMESTEADS — The biting aroma of cilantro, chile peppers, chicken and pork, all mixed into colorful dishes, once wafted through Maria’s Restaurant in Lihu‘e, to the delight of patrons. Now the same aromas are wafting from the Wailua Homesteads
WAILUA HOMESTEADS — The biting aroma of cilantro, chile peppers, chicken and pork, all mixed into colorful dishes, once wafted through Maria’s Restaurant in Lihu‘e, to the delight of patrons.
Now the same aromas are wafting from the Wailua Homesteads home of the former restaurant owners, Victor and Maria Llanes.
Following seven years in business, the Llanes closed their doors this year to get ready for retirement.
Retirement hasn’t suited them, because they still like to cook, and have too much energy, they said. So, they launched Comida Mexicana, a catering service that specializes in a type of authentic, home-cooked, Mexican food that goes back 60 years.
Comida Mexicana is run out of the home of the Llanes, where they prepare and produce customized dishes.
The operating philosophy of Maria’s Restaurant focused on the use of fresh ingredients, mostly from Kaua‘i, and cooking with “tender loving care,” Victor Llanes said.
The same philosophy applies to the new business, he said.
With more time on their hands, they have shed the demands of a daily business.
That means they can put even more care in the dishes they produce in their new business.
Although they are a smaller outfit now, the Llanes said they can still produce, and quickly, the same 50 and more dishes offered by Maria’s Restaurant.
Maria Llanes said she has 15 to 20 core recipes that are the foundation of her new offerings.
“It goes beyond the recipes. I can make anything you want, any time you want it,” she said.
Some of her favorites include
- Meatball soup, otherwise known as albondigas;
- Chile verde, using pork or chicken, tomatillo, which are small green tomatoes, chile ancho, a dried chile pepper, and fresh chile pasilla. The dish, to which a little salt is added, is boiled;
- Mole for chicken or cheese enchiladas;
- Homemade hot and mild salsa, a favorite among customers, the Llanes said.
If there is one dish that Maria Llanes likes to boast about, it is the chile relleno dish. She said she felt that dish was always mouthwatering, and favorable comments from customers validate her belief.
“People tell me that they never tried child relleno like mine,” she said. “Mine is special, because I put love into cooking it. I roast it really good.”
Some people prefer her style of cooking because it is light and healthy, she said.
That may be because, the couple say, all the dishes are cooked with soy bean oil, and with fresh ingredients.
Using canned foods for their dishes is kapu (not allowed), they said.
“We don’t use canned goods, period,” Victor said sternly. “We want only the best in our dishes.”
So that the full flavor of dishes can be appreciated, no spices are added. “We use only salt. And pepper was put out on the table for customers to use,” Victor said.
The couple feels their type of Mexican cuisine is superior to any other found on the island because their dishes are prepared and cooked with “tender loving care,” Victor Llanes said.
“Everything you put love into is good,” Maria Llanes echoed.
The same care that goes into making dishes for 20 to 30 people will go into making an order for one person, Maria Llanes pledged.
Maria Llanes’ love for her style of cooking goes back to when she was a 7-year-old girl cooking in the kitchen of her grandmother’s home in Zapotiltic, a town located in the state of Jalesco, Mexico.
Maria Llanes’ grandmother, Maria Garcia, showed her how to cook a type of food that was poplar in that town in the 1940s.
That would be a plate of enchiladas with mole, sope, a corn patty, and goat meat, topped off with a glass of tequila with grenadine fruit, known as ponche, Victor Llanes said.
Since those days, Maria Llanes has experimented with and refined dishes, based on recommendations from customers, Mexican-restaurant food she has sampled, and her own feelings on what she feels will make her cooking stand out.
While Maria Llanes has cooked for nearly 55 years, Victor Llanes’ involvement with cooking began only seven years go, with the opening of the restaurant.
With Maria Llanes as his mentor, Victor Llanes learned to duplicate her dishes as much as possible, but adds his own identity to them, using a little bit more of this and little bit more of that to bring out the flavor he wants in his creations, he said.
Victor Llanes was born in Laredo, Texas, and was a professional welder before he became a restaurateur.
The Llanes formerly lived in California, visited Kaua‘i in the mid-1990s, liked what they saw, and moved here eight years ago.
Victor and Maria Llanes are gearing up their new catering service for the upcoming holiday season.
Orders may be placed by calling 635-1039 or 635-2423.
