Spice it Up with Maya’s Guacamole Festival

Joonbug article: Spice it Up with Maya’s Guacamole Festival.

Mix up your hot summer nights with vivacity and zest at Maya Modern Mexican Kitchen and Tequileria. Richard Sandoval’s cosmopolitan take on traditional Mexican-rooted cuisine is invigorating and stylishly refined—an escapade of sophisticated ingredients and innovative cooking methods. The cocktails and tequila are lively friends at the bar when paired with small plates and delicious tacos. Maya also features Bottomless Margarita Brunch with endless small plates to relish and free cocktails to flow, personal Tequila Lockers to store your tequila and absolutely tasty $2 Taco Tuesdays in the restaurant’s Tequileria.

Beginning on Monday, July 1st and lasting throughout the summer until September 30th, Maya New York is preparing the ultimate foodie event that spotlights one notable luminary. And its universal name—guacamole.

Honoring Mexican cooking, Maya’s 1st Annual Guacamole Festival will highlight various tastes of provincial ventures. Guacamole, or “avocado sauce,” has been prepared for a long time, dating back to the 16th century. The customary Mexican dip was savored by the Aztecs, prepared with avocado, chilies, onion, salt and fresh tomato. This amazing dip has evolved over time. Mexican regions began to experiment with the divine dish, completely expanding its culinary diversity. They merged local ingredients, establishing thousands of creative takes on traditional guacamole. Today, guacamole is incorporated in a plethora of dishes, featured in both Mexican and American food.

If you want to have the full-fledged guacamole experience, Maya offers the Guacamole Toastada Sampler. This glorious taste of Mexico is highly recommended, and includes three types of guacamole, Baja, Pacifico, and Sur, served with mini toastadas, tomatillo salsa, and habanero salsa ($14). The Traditional is a delicious choice if your palate is in the mood for exploring a more regional guacamole. The Traditional dip is prepared with avocado, onion, tomato, chile serrano, and cilantro. The Baja dip is unlike any other, completely spicing up your typical guacamole. If you are in for a creative treat and up for trying something new, this is the guacamole for you. It incorporates flavors originating from Baja California: jicama (a sweet Mexican root vegetable), kiwi, mango, strawberry, lime, mint, chile arbol (Mexican chili pepper), and sea salt. The Surguacamole utilizes tastes from the South, including grasshoppers, cotija cheese (Mexican crumbly cow’s milk cheese), tomatillo, onion, cilantro, chile cascabel (rattle chili pepper), sea salt, and lime.

The Guacamole Festival also features the tastes of Tuna Tartare, with chipotle, serrano pepper, wonton, sesame seed, and jicama salad; Bacon, with pickled chile, chicharron (fried pork rinds), and cotija cheese; and Maya’s Spicy Crab, prepared with lime, cilantro, and chipotle. Maya’s guacamoles featured in the Guacamole Festival will fall in a price range of $10 to $16.

Maya Modern Mexican Kitchen and Tequileria is located at 1191 First Avenue between 64th & 65th Street.