Maria's Mexican Kitchen in Odessa, TX, elevated Mexican food with magnificent mole sauce

Maria's Mexican Kitchen only opened in Odessa this summer but it is already a hit judging by the crown at 1pm on a Saturday afternoon. I traveled with my companion to Odessa just to eat at this restaurant as a birthday treat. 

A 

House-made guacamole

little back story on why I wanted to got to Odessa for lunch...in the past when I would visit San Angelo, Texas, I enjoyed going to a family run Mexican restaurant there called Armenta's. Primarily because they served mole sauce with some of the dishes. The sauce was the matriarch Maria's recipe. It was a rare thing to find mole sauce on the menu of the average Mexican restaurant. The last time I visited, I found out that they no longer serve the sauce as Maria had passed away. When I read that Maria's Kitchen, which is owned by her chef son Felipe Armenta, and was named this one in honor of his mother, I had to eat there and enjoy the delicious mole sauce again. The Odessa location is new and the other location is in Fort Worth. Chef Armenta has several restaurants in Texas. 

Chips and salsa

First off, I recommend making reservations, especially on the weekend. Odessa, much like Abilene, is a town that always wants to try the newest restaurant arrivals to the local scene so that may or may not have contributed to how busy they were on a Saturday at lunchtime. We arrived a little early for our reservation and were seated about 5 minutes after walking in the door. Maria's Kitchen is not an overly expansive restaurant, which is another reason to make reservations. The decor is modern and there are very high ceilings and contemporary style furnishings. The only drawback to the building is that it is quite loud when the tables are all full so keep that in mind if  that is an issue for you when dining. There will eventually be patio seating outside but the summer heat does not make that a pleasant option at the moment.

After we were seated at our table, the server arrived quickly. The service for the entire meal was very attentive and professional. Homemade chips and salsa was placed on the table almost immediately. The flavor of the salsa was very appealing. It had a roasted tomato profile and was served warm. I thought the chips were a bit on the thick side but they certainly did not break when used to scoop up some of the flavorful salsa, which did have a spicy kick to it due to the seeds that were visible. 

Mariposa and Maple Old Fashioned

A minor critique is that the drinks from the bar were a bit slow arriving, I think there was only one bartender working, but that was not a major issue for us and the manager brought our beverages over himself once they were ready. They were perfectly balanced cocktails. 

For an appetizer we ordered the house-made guacamole ($14). It was absolutely fresh tasting and quite delicious. There was a bit of a sweet flavor to it instead of the avocado being overwhelmed with a lemon/lime, onion, or cilantro flavor, as can happen with guacamole at times. It is a guess, but I think it may have had pineapple juice in it. We enjoyed it immensely and it was consumed quickly. 

For my entree, I was torn between getting the chicken in mole sauce or the enchiladas tres colores ($22) which had three different sauces on each enchilada. The enchiladas won because I wanted to try the poblano sauce in addition to the mole sauce. The third enchilada had sour cream sauce on it. For the filling, I got the chicken but picadillo beef was another option. My companion ordered the steak fajitas ($36). 

Tres colores enchiladas

Steak fajitas

My enchiladas came out looking like perfection on a plate. Of course, I had to try the mole one first. It did not disappoint. The sauce is complex and had some heat to it, the bitter chocolate note was there but the underlying flavor was red chili. Sesame seeds were sprinkled on the top. The chicken inside was tasty and tender. It was even better than I remembered it. The poblano sauce was also yummy and almost gave the mole a run for its money. The sour cream sauce was very, very good, no complaints at all. I could not have been happier with my choice. It was well worth the 2.5 hour drive, one way, to Odessa from Abilene.  

My friend's fajitas came out sizzling and the meat was full of flavor and tender. The accompanying flour tortillas were just the right size to make the a "bite-able" fajita taco. They came with the requisite peppers and onions, with a whole grilled jalapeno and grilled pineapple as well,  which as a little surprising but not unwelcome. 

Our dinners came with rice and refried black beans, served family style. Both were non-traditional as the refried beans were made with black beans and the rice used long grain rice, which put a different twist on the staple sides. I am not a huge fan of black beans but the flavor on both was good but to be honest I was too full from the enchiladas to each much of the sides. 

Interior

As you may surmise from the price points that were annotated, Maria's Kitchen is "elevated" Mexican food. The ingredients are high quality, along with the presentation, and the service as you would expect from the prices. The menu is not huge but the choices reflected several seafood options which one would not expect to see in west Texas. My next goal is to try the Fort Worth location which has been in business longer and see if it is just as impressive. 

If you find yourself in the Midland/Odessa area, I recommend you got the Maria's Kitchen for a lovely meal. I know I will again.  

Maria's Mexican Kitchen

7254 TX-191 #200, Odessa, TX 79765

432-282-0240

https://www.mariasmexicankitchen.com/odessa/

Hours

Mon-Thu 11am-1opm

Fri 11am-11pm

Sat 10am-11pm

Sun 10am-9pm

Brunch--Sat & Sun 10am-3pm

Happy hour--Mon-Fri 3pm-6pm

Biscuit Bar--Go for breakfast or brunch when the biscuits are fresh

The Biscuit Bar is a theme restaurant  that opened in Abilene last fall. The food is served on a biscuit. Not just breakfast items but all sorts of sandwiches. It is located in the new entertainment area on N. Judge Ely Blvd. close to Abilene Christian University. The other restaurants that are already there are Fuzzy's Tacos (Abilene's second location) and a Vietnamese place. 

The area has lots of outdoor seating, a playground and is situated around a pond with a walking track around it. In this pandemic world, the outdoor seating has lots of appeal. Even more so than it normally would with the generally agreeable weather in this area. There is room for more establishments to come in to the space. 

For a girls night in mid-December, myself and three friends went to have dinner at The Biscuit Bar as none of us had been there yet. Yes, they do have an actual bar and serve alcoholic beverages in addition to their menu of biscuit sandwiches and tater tots with a variety of topping options. It is a small chain with a few other locations around the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.

We arrived on a Friday evening around 6:30pm, early yes but with most new places in Abilene we anticipated that there would be a line even though they had been open for about 3 months. Lo and behold, no line and only about three diners inside. This set off a bit of warning bell in my mind that it was so sparse but I put it down to the end of the semester and the mass exodus of college students for Christmas break. There was a large party seated outside along with a couple or two. 

The service set up is to go through the line and place your order and it will be brought out to you. We all placed our orders and went to find a seat inside which as I stated wasn't a problem, except that we had to clean it off ourselves. I ordered the Fancy Chicken ($6.60) with a side order of plain tater tots with ranch ($3.80) and a drink. The sandwich was a fried chicken breast, dill pickles and house-made "fancy" sauce, which tasted like ranch to me. I found the biscuit to be tough and not warm enough, very disappointing since the entire restaurant concept was based on their biscuits. The breading on the chicken was tasty but the entire sandwich was quite small for the price. I do realize that prices have gone up everywhere but almost $4 for an order of plain tater tots no bigger than a large order of tots from Sonic was to be blunt, dissatisfying. To get toppings on them would have added another $2.50 to the cost. I think the toppings are meant to make them an entrée so the price follows. They are just not good enough or plentiful enough to cost that much, sorry.

My friends ordered the grilled chicken biscuit ($6.90), the grilled chicken biscuit with no biscuit--as there were no gluten free options in regard to the bread and salad would have cost $2 more--and the biscuit French toast ($5.80). Out of all of us the French toast biscuit was the best option. Perhaps going there and sticking to breakfast style features is a safer bet. Safer still would be to go early in the day when the biscuits are fresh. All day you have the option to get a sausage biscuit or a biscuit with sausage gravy for less than $5 or a bacon, egg and cheese for less than $6. Kid's meals are about $5 and there are salads but they start at $8.50. There are sweet potato tots for those that like them.

All in all, I may go back for brunch sometime and enjoy sitting outside if the weather is nice but it is not going to make my regular rotation. 

https://thebiscuit.bar/

2447 N. Judge Ely Blvd

Abilene, TX 79601

Sun – Thurs: 8am – 9pm

Fri & Sat: 8am – 10pm

abilene@thebiscuit.bar

325-267-6538