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Macarios Restaurant - Authentic Mexican Cuisine & Seafood
Macarios restaurant is my favorite Mexican restaurant in the desert. Authentic - no frills - and hands down the best Mexican food in town! Located just south of the 10 freeway on Indio boulevard, the building was once the home of date farmers. It still sits on the edge of open fields, white stucco walls and red tile roof basking in the sunlight, while a breeze blows across the valley, and beyond the dirt parking lot and telephone lines you can see all the way to the mountains.
The Best Breakfast Special in Town!Almost every Saturday I take at least one of my children to Macario's for breakfast - a fantastic overwhelming plate of Huevos Rancheros. This is the best plate of Huevos on the planet, and it is served every morning for only $3.99!
There’s something timeless about the place, as if restaurant and grounds have escaped the progress that’s transformed the rest of the valley. Walking past the bougainvillea that frames the entrance and stepping into the foyer feels like coming home. There’s a fire in the grate, green wood beam ceilings overhead, and a friendly hostess, named Eloisa, smiles as if we’re old friends.
More than just great Mexican food“We grew up here,” she explains, when asked about her experience in the family business. She’s the owner’s daughter. Macario, better known as Max, was a migrant worker in the late 1960’s but, a butcher by trade, he eventually found a job in a shop on Jackson street. He worked hard, saved money and bought the store, renaming it Max’s Meat Market.
He and my mother competed with each other to make the best food.” In 1984 he sold the Meat Market because of his arthritis, but he wasn’t ready to retire. A few years later he decided to open a restaurant. “Everyone told him not to do it. They said he would lose money and that he should slow down. But he always says, ‘I’ll rest when I die.’” He still comes in every morning at six o’clock to open the place, which the family painted and decorated years ago. The furnishings – beautifully carved wood tables, a hand painted armoire, oil paintings and bright ceramics – have accumulated over time, some of it acquired on Max’s annual trips to Mexico. A photograph of General Zapata hangs near the front door and Eloisa claims that it’s been in their possession for as long as she can remember. Zapata’s motto is etched beneath his likeness: It is better to die on my feet than to continue living on my knees. “It’s one of my father’s favorite expressions,” Eloisa says. “My great-great uncle fought in the revolution, and Dad tells us all the stories. He likes to teach us things.” How to treat their guests, for example, with warmth and hospitality. It’s a lesson that Eloisa has passed on to her nine-year old son, who busses tables in the summertime. Eloisa, her parents, three sisters and their families know most of the patrons by name – names being a particular hobby of Macario’s. “A lot of things on the menu are named after family, friends, customers. And he named my sisters and me after roses. I’m Eloisa Blanca – the white rose.” Macario is both poet and butcher, I think, as I slide into a booth. And the waitress brings more than margarita’s and a basket of chips to the table. They’re not exactly listed on the menu, but Macario’s real specialties are family, friendship and a deep sense of continuity.
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You must stop by and experience the food, whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner. The food is mouth-watering - the best sauces and tortillas I have ever had...
“But he was always cooking,” says Eloisa. “He was famous for giving out recipes and for having enormous barbecues.