Looks like a laid-back joint.
Previous tenants at these premises have served Italian, Colombian, and Haitian food, not always making sharp distinctions on the menu, so it's no stunner that although the current staff are Chapines — natives of Guatemala — about half the hot-food menu hails from the (non)neighboring country of Peru. From the extensive display of baked goods, prepared in-house, my two purchases ($2 total) included a concha, a "shell"-shaped pastry with a crusty snowcap that includes sugar (and probably lard); and a turnover filled with melocotón. That's peach, chunky and sweet.
The Maya Restaurant
166 Stillwater Ave. (at Finney Ln.), Stamford, Connecticut
203-504-8463
Do they actually have a menu yet? The two times I've stopped in, they haven't yet had a menu, so they just asked me what I wanted. And it seemed that depending on the nationality of the person manning the stove in back was what they were serving that day. One day it was mostly peruvian. The other day it was mostly guatemalan. Granted, the first time I went it was, literally, the first day it was open.
I'm just bummed they aren't really focusing on what the name suggests - mayan food. Maybe if they develop the guatemalan specialities, it will be better than your average pan-latin place without a soul. But I'm not so sure it will be. Who knows. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Posted by: adamclyde | August 08, 2009 at 07:08 AM
They do indeed have a menu, and it's good-sized. The Peruvian dishes aren't in a special section, but most of the familiar names show up here and there. The menu also insists that although "tamales are made differently through Latin America," theirs are "Guatemalan style, which are the biggest and the best, with a savory sauce and filled with meat."
Even more intriguing: tapado de mariscos, "a traditional dish of the Garifuna peoples of the Atlantic coast," a coconut-milk-based stew with fish, shrimp, crab, and plantains, topped with a whole fried fish ($15). "The bouillabaisse of the tropics," they shrewdly call it.
Posted by: Dave Cook | August 08, 2009 at 08:43 PM
That's encouraging - that they take some pride in local dishes and their preparation for it. I'll have to get over there this week.
Posted by: adamclyde | August 09, 2009 at 12:31 AM
Some information on the Meso-American stone statues called chac-mool, depicted on the restaurant's sign:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chac_Mool
Posted by: Dave Cook | December 20, 2011 at 09:35 AM