Two Maryland restaurants received national attention this week after being highlighted by Washington Post food critic Elazar Sontag in his “favorite dishes of February.”
Among the selections were Hijos del Maiz, a Mexican street food truck located at 12151 Rockville Pike in Rockville, and Mandalay Restaurant at 930 Bonifant St. in Silver Spring.
Hijos del Maiz operates out of a gas station parking lot along Rockville Pike, where the husband and wife team behind the concept focuses on traditional Mexican street food prepared with house-made masa. Sontag praised both the food and the unexpected setting. “There is novelty and thrill to eating such thoughtfully made food in a gas station parking lot,” Sontag wrote.
The food truck specializes in dishes built around fresh masa prepared in-house using heirloom corn sourced from different regions of Mexico. According to the owners, the corn is cooked through the traditional process of nixtamalization and then ground in a stone mill without additives or preservatives. The resulting masa is used to prepare menu staples such as tacos, quesadillas, and tostadas.
Also recognized was Mandalay Restaurant, a longtime Silver Spring destination known for its Burmese cuisine. Sontag singled out the restaurant’s pickled mango pork curry as one of his favorite dishes from the past month. “There are plenty of other delights to be had at Mandalay, but no dish compares to this one. It is among the finest curries I have tasted,” Sontag wrote.
Mandalay Restaurant offers an extensive menu that showcases a wide range of Burmese dishes. The offerings include seafood, pork, beef, poultry, vegetarian options, noodles, rice dishes, soups, salads, and appetizers. Popular selections include coconut curries, tamarind fish, and a variety of vegan-friendly tofu entrées.
