Maria Bolanos
Since Maria Bolaños was a child, she was fascinated by food and cooking. A lot of her training came from the arduous work she did in her grandmother’s kitchen, assisting with banquets her father, a prominent oil digger, organized at home. Maria and her three sisters would help their mother put out lobster, lamb, tripe, caviar and more. Her childhood kitchen was bigger than Mother’s Bistro’s dining room, and Maria spent most of her days there between the Le Creuset casseroles, cast iron skillets, mortars and pestles.
Most of her knowledge comes from her passion for food and the opportunities she’s had to travel and eat around the world. She went to culinary school at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, and despite the advice of her first chef-instructor to “never ever, ever open a restaurant on your own,” that’s exactly what she did in Mexico City.
She created a beautiful menu and a beautiful restaurant (Restaurante Sabina). On the eve of opening,the local government demanded that she have 70 parking spaces, which was absolutely impossible. She had to close her business and donated all her equipment to a convent.
This setback was not enough to defeat her passion for cooking. She left her country because she could no longer trust a government without regulations, and has been a U.S. resident living in Portland for the last two years. Now she finds herself wanting to cook again, and in honor of Cinco de Mayo, we figured it would be a perfect time.
M.O.M. Menu
Lunch/Dinner
Red Snapper Ceviche
diced snapper “cooked” in lemon juice with red onion, jalapenos, green olives & cucumber in a beer vinaigrette, topped with avocado & crispy tortillas
Lunch
Chile Relleno de Queso
poblano pepper filled with chihuahua cheese, onions & potatoes, dipped in egg batter & fried, topped with a light tomato sauce, served with mexican rice & refried beans
Dinner
“Cascade Natural” Beef Sirloin Tips in Chipotle Sauce
with potatoes & refried beans, served with fresh warm corn tortillas
Chile Rellenos de Queso
two poblano peppers filled with chihuahua cheese, onions & potatoes, dipped in egg batter & fried, topped with a light tomato sauce, served with mexican rice & refried beans
Dessert
Arroz con Leche
slow-cooked valencia rice pudding with a hint of cinnamon, topped with whipped cream, served with mexican wedding cookies