Stephen Montoya
What started out as a way to keep eleven siblings fed in Monterrey Mexico has become the inspiration for one of Arlington’s newest authentic Mexican restaurants.
Just north of Arlington’s trendy university district located at 505 E Abram Street is a new Mexican restaurant named Los Molcas Tacos Bar & Grill. This isn’t your typical Tex Mex either, in fact, owners Jose and his wife Elda Abud are eager ambassadors of what they call “Monterrey cuisine”.
Yes — this duo grew up in and near Monterrey Mexico as kids. So, it was a no-brainer Elda Abud says over some homemade chips and salsa, that she and her husband bring some of that tradition to Arlington.
“We started out with a catering business a few years ago that offered different kinds of meals,” Elda says as she gazes past a huge plate of Molcajete, the restaurant’s signature dish. “After a while, we began to notice that most of our clients really liked the Mexican-inspired dishes like carne asada and fajitas.”
It was this realization that put the Abud’s wheels in motion about possibly offering the food they were raised on and grew up with in a restaurant setting. A notion mind you, that has been in the works for almost two years.
“I know a lot of places around here that do that type of food,” she says. “But no one really does the authentic Mexican way of cooking that we offer.”
The proof of this idea is in the restaurant’s name, which is a colloquial term for a molcajete (mole-ca-het-te), a pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican bowl made out of vesicular basalt that is rounded and typically has three legs formed into it. Chances are you have either been served salsa in one or seen one of these bowls used to grind corn at different Mexican-themed restaurants in North Texas.
“The term Molcas, is just a playful way of saying the food is authentic to Mexico and in a way a calling card for other Mexicans who know and enjoy this type of food,” Elda says.
All of the menu items are made from scratch daily, a skill both Elda and Jose learned from their catering business and from growing up in Monterrey.
“For us, this type of food was around every weekend,” she says. “I have eleven brothers so we had to do a lot of cooking at home because our get-togethers were so big, we couldn’t afford to go anywhere else most of the time.”
The irony of this is that Elda and her husband are now the restaurant owners instead of the would-be patrons.
So, what’s on the menu?
Stephen Montoya
Well, let’s start with the Molcajete dish I referred to earlier. This triple meat combo, which includes both beef and chicken fajita strips, and smoked pork sausage is served with homemade corn tortillas, beans and rice, and a hunk of grilled cheese panela for good measure. The meat is served in a molca with fresh onions and a side of three different hot sauces. This hearty meal could feed two or three patrons easily, plus it’s a conversation starter. By the time this menu item made it to me, the restaurant was abuzz with rubbernecks at every table.
Did I mention the homemade corn tortillas?
Other menu items include machacade con huevo, two scrambled eggs served with machaca (dry beef) ranchero style, and refried beans. Or then there’s the molca taco, which is served in a homemade tortilla with arrachera steak, a bell pepper, onions and topped with melted cheese.
“I moved here in 1997 from Mexico and I can honestly say I have been blessed by always having work and finding people who are encouraging,” Jose Abud says while passing by my table between taking orders from customers. This little restaurant had non-stop foot traffic for the full hour I was there. That’s saying something since this establishment has only been open for two weeks and only has five pictures posted to its Facebook account.
“I can’t believe how many people have already come in,” Elda reiterates. “We thought we would start off small and build our customer base over time, but it seems like this location is a busy one, so we have stayed pretty steady since we opened.”
For more information about Los Molcas Tacos Bar & Grill click here.
