Burlingame is getting a new Mexican restaurant highlighting special regional dishes from around the country, from northern Mexico to Jalisco and Nayarit to Yucatan.
It’s expected to open in March, according to restaurant spokesperson and designer Alfonso Dominguez.
Behind the restaurant is owner Francisco Perez and Dominguez’s mother, Gloria Dominguez, who is the restaurant’s chef and culinary consultant. She is also the chef and consultant behind Oakland’s Tamarindo Antojeria, which closed in 2019, and Los Altos’ Tal Palo, which her daughter and son-in law run.
Perez bought the former Flights location, and alongside Dominguez and Dominguez’s design studio, 5ten studio, they developed a vision to transform the space into a restaurant celebrating Mexico’s culinary diversity.
Gloria Dominguez’s excitement about the dishes she’s bringing to the restaurant was palpable in a recent conversation. “I want to be able to transport people to different regions of Mexico,” she says.
One of the dishes she’s planning to serve is chiles en nogada, peppers stuffed with ground beef, fruit and topped with walnut sauce and pomegranates — a color scheme matching the Mexican flag. There’ll also be a selection of seven Oaxacan moles, including one made out of guava. And from Nayarit, she’s planning to offer pescado zarandeado, grilled red snapper.
From her home state, Jalisco, there will be goat birria and tortas ahogadas, sandwiches typically made on sourdough bread, filled with shredded pork, refried beans and onions, and submerged in sauce.
And for dessert, she’ll be offering a traditional Jalisco dish called jericallas, which is similar to crème brûlée and is said to have been invented in Guadalajara by a Spaniard working in an orphanage.
The 120-plus-seat restaurant will also have a full bar, with a focus on agave-based liquors like tequila and mezcal, likely alongside a mezcal sommelier, according to Alfonso Dominguez.
Details: A March opening is expected at 1100 Burlingame Ave., Burlingame; amadoburlingame.com