An authentic taste of Mexico at Quintero’s
Friday - May 11, 2007
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Fresh fish, salads and vegetables are all
featured on the menu at Quintero’s
Maria Quintero has been on a mission for more than 20 years. But you’ve probably not seen her much, or heard her speak. That’s because she’s spent the better part of the past two decades in the kitchen at Quintero’s, the Mexican restaurant she owns with her husband, Luis, trying to educate diners about the true flavors of Mexican food.
Maria and Luis came to Honolulu from Michoacan on their honeymoon and fell in love with the beauty of the Islands.
“We wanted to stay, and my family had always run restaurants,” says Maria, “so we opened a small restaurant and we’re still here 20 years later.”
Today Quintero’s has a regular following of diners who love the home-cooked food and the casual environment. In the early days, though, it wasn’t always easy to convince people that what they were eating, was indeed Mexican food.
“People in Hawaii who had never been to Mexico, they would tell me that the food wasn’t authentic. Some of their ideas of what Mexican food should be were based on Taco Bell and other kinds of restaurants,” she says with a wry smile. Maria let her food speak for itself.
“I would tell people, please just try the beans, if you don’t like them then I’ll make rice - and nobody ever wanted the rice, because they loved the beans!”
The kind of food Quintero’s serves is the kind of food you’d taste if you went to visit Maria’s family in Michoacan, with everything made from scratch.
“You won’t find a single can in this kitchen,” she says proudly, and recalls the story of a cook who applied to work at the restaurant.
“He asked me where the canned chicken broth was, and I told him there was none - we had to make it. Then he asked me where to find canned tomatoes and I told him the same thing - that we only use fresh. He was very surprised.”
He also didn’t stay long. Since then, Maria’s not given up control of the kitchen to anyone.
“I’m here every day, and I make everything,” she says.
You’ll find American-Mexican favorites like tacos and enchiladas on the menu here, even though they’re not something Maria and her family grew up eating, but go for the pork carnitas, the enchiladas carne asada, the shrimp chipotle or some perfectly cooked beans and rice. There’s a wide range of chicken, fish, meat and vegetarian options at Quintero’s, along with really good ceviche, homemade fiery salsas and creamy, fresh guacamole.
And to that never-ending question about what’s authentic and what’s not? Maria says she’ll leave that one up to you.
“Everybody says that this is the best, most-authentic Mexican food. And the best judge of good food will always be the people. So we invite everyone to come and try. Then they’ll see for themselves.”
Quintero’s 1102 Piikoi St. Honolulu 593-1561
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