Restaurant Merida Offers Flavor of Yucatan Peninsula

Mexican restaurants are as ubiquitous as sunshine in the San Gabriel Valley, but few eateries specialize in dishes from the Yucatan Peninsula, whose proximity to Central America gives this regional cuisine a tangy Caribbean flavor.

Restaurant Merida, named after the capital city in the Mexican state of Yucatan, is one exception. Located in Old Pasadena, Merida draws crowds from all over Los Angeles County for savory specialties such as cochinita pibil , in which lean pork is marinated in an achiote chile paste, wrapped in banana leaves and baked slowly until the meat practically flakes apart.

For 14 years, owners Pepe and Elsy Quinones have presided over their Colorado Boulevard restaurant, whose friendly service and generous portions of Yucatecan comfort food for less than $10 per dish have nourished regulars, expatriates and even the World Cup crowd.

Merida’s large outdoor patio is perfect for balmy summer evenings, when you might feel transported back to the Yucatan--if only it was 20 degrees hotter and more humid. There is live music on weekends and holidays, ranging from a lone guitarist strumming Mexican canciones to the dulcet harmonies of Yucatecan trio music . On Cinco de Mayo, Merida will feature a full-bore mariachi band.

Elsy Quinones grew up in Merida, a city of Spanish colonial villas, narrow streets and majestic cathedrals. The capital’s multilayered influences--architecturally as well as gastronomically--incorporate elements of the indigenous Mayan Indians, the Spanish conquistadores, and the Lebanese and Arab traders who settled centuries ago.

Quinones moved to Mexico City at age 8 with her family. When she was 18, they moved again, to Tijuana, where her family ran Yucatecan restaurants. She met her husband, Pepe, in the border town. They eventually married, moved to Los Angeles and opened Merida, using family recipes Elsy learned in childhood.

“Mother always cooked Yucatecan dishes at home, so I knew how to make things like poc chuc and escabeche ,” Quinones explains.

In Merida’s version of poc chuc , thin-sliced pork is marinated with sour orange and spices then cooked on the grill. Escabeche Oriental is turkey cooked in a spicy black broth with onions and roasted garlic.

This cuisine may already be familiar to Americans who have visited the seaside Yucatan resort of Cancun, the island of Cozumel or the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza, an entire stone city set in the midst of a scrub jungle.

For them, visiting Merida the restaurant is a way to recapture that experience, without the sweltering sun and mosquitoes.

“A lot of customers go to the Yucatan, and they say it’s beautiful but too hot, and that the food is better here,” Elsy Quinones boasts.

Most dishes are served with black beans, rice, tortillas and curdita , puckery slices of purple onion marinated in vinegar and oregano until almost pickled.

The Quinones also offer a panoply of standard Mexican dishes, but most customers come for the Yucatecan specialties.

Restaurant Merida, 20 E. Colorado No. 102 in Old Pasadena. Prices range from $1.95 for appetizers to $9.90 for dinners. Open Sunday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Phone: 818/792-7371.