In Tysons, Ometeo has carved out a niche with its Tex-Mex offerings, helmed by chefs Manuel Perez and Gabe Erales. As the restaurant celebrates its first year, the duo, in an interview with Northern Virginia Magazine, reflected on the challenges and triumphs of introducing authentic Tex-Mex cuisine to a region where tastes and traditions differ.
How is running a Tex-Mex spot here different than it is in Texas?
Erales: What is a big seller in Texas is not always going to be a big seller in this region, just because there’s unfamiliarity with ingredients and techniques and history, and so we have another barrier of trying to tell that story and educate, as well as create really amazing food. So that’s actually been something really, really fun for us to look at, is truly understanding what your customers around here really enjoy, and what they like. And how can we continue to kind of sneak some of these classics in and open up some doors for visibility on this food?
What dishes have been more popular than you were expecting?
Perez: The veggie fajita. I really thought, ‘We won’t sell any of these, but we need to have the option.’ And it’s been a surprise. We thought for a small period of time [we should] remove it from menu, and it was like, ‘Hey, where’s the veggie fajita?’ And we had to bring it back to our menu. The fajitas are always the stars.
Erales: I think part of what makes the fajitas amazing is also the tortillas, [we’re] making handmade flour tortillas with really nicely sourced product. The corn tortilla program — we’re using heirloom corn, and that makes it really special.
How is Ometeo different from a standard Mexican restaurant?
Perez: We always just try to move everything in-house. We do our own queso, we do our frijoles. … Our foods have a really particular kind of taste. But also, the experience in the whole restaurant is different. You can see the restaurant [has] beautiful décor, music — it’s a really good vibe in the restaurant. We are like a good fiesta.
Erales: One of the things that is really special about the Long Shot Hospitality Group is how well they’ve done with The Salt Line. It’s such a really beautiful seafood-focused restaurant. And seeing that there’s a parallel to the availability of seafood on the southern coast of Texas, I think one of the things that we’ve really tried to do here is lean into the seafood portion of the Tex-Mex aspect.
What are your favorite items on Ometeo’s menu?
Perez: Right now, we have a snapper. In Mexico it’s called huachinango. We serve it with a garlic mojo. It’s a really fresh dish and really savory.
Erales: We have a lobster tostada, which is essentially New England lobster that’s dressed in salsa macha. And it’s very simple, but I didn’t eat a lot of lobster growing up. It’s extremely expensive. It was really nice to incorporate that and have this beautiful lobster dressed in citrus and salsa macha on a really nice crispy tostada.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Feature image of Perez and Erales by Michael Butcher
This story originally ran in our November issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
