Last week owners of Angela’s Cafe met with residents who live near El Paisa Restaurant located at 1012 Bennington Street to pitch the idea of opening a second Angela’s Cafe in East Boston.
Angela’s owner, Luis Garcia, plans to take over the restaurant space currently housing El Paisa and open second location to compliment the widely successful restaurant on the corner of Lexington and Brooks Streets on Eagle Hill.
“The meeting went very well,” said Garcia. “There were five to six residents in attendance and they all liked the idea.”
The new space would mean more room for Angela’s to keep growing in the community.
“It’s is right across the street from the MBTA station at Orient Heights so residents from the other end of East Boston can easily get to us and not have to worry about parking.”
Garcia plans to keep the same menu as the original Eagle Hill location that has made the Mexican Restaurant a favorite among foodies and restaurant reviewers.
“If all goes well, El Paisa will close and then we will spend two to three weeks rehabbing the inside,” said Garcia. “We would then reopen as Angela’s Cafe sometime in February.”
In 2013, Angela’s gained national fame when the Food Network’s popular show Diners, Drive Ins and Dives (Triple Ds) debuted its segment on Angela’s and host Guy Fieri was beyond impressed by the Puebla/Mexican cuisine being served at the small corner restaurant on Eagle Hill.
Garcia and his mother, and Angela’s namesake, Angela Atenco Lopez dazzled Fieri with a traditional Puebla dish and staple among Mexican Food enthusiasts.
The entire segment focused on Angela’s Chilaquiles and the dish prepared by Garcia using his mother’s recipe did not disappoint.
Garcia walked Fieri through preparing the dish’s important ‘green sauce’. Garcia showed Fieri how, at Angela’s, nothing comes from a can. Garcia boiled down tomatillos with jalapeños then blended them with garlic, water and stock to a thin liquid. The sauce was then put into a pan where Angela’s homemade fried tortilla chips are added. The sauce is reduced then topped with shredded chicken, fresh Mexican cheese, sliced onions and avocados, fresh sour cream and then fried eggs.
After one bite Fieri was propelled into food ecstasy that only a dish like Angela’s Chilaquiles can cause.
“I’m coming back to get this tomorrow,” said Fieri of the dish.
Fieri was also impressed by how quick Angela makes her homemade tortillas as well as Angela’s Pepian Rojo and Mole Poblano.