Catering food truck Santana’s is preparing to open Santana’s Kitchen & Cocktails, its first brick-and-mortar restaurant, in Delray Beach. Santana’s has been huge word-of-mouth hit for garden parties and other private events, offering a menu of dishes from Latin cuisine whose insistence on real, fresh ingredients has made it “accidentally” vegan- and gluten-free friendly, co-owner Amy Santana told What Now on Tuesday.
“A lot of the food is gluten-free, dairy-free, or vegan, just because we use real food,” the chef said. “People say, Wow, how is this gluten-free? Because it’s an onion!”
Four and a half years doing catering while insisting on consistent, sustainable quality shaped the menu that Amy and Andy Santana have served in other ways as well. Fried foods, for example, were out, Santana says.
“They cook an hour before going into holding, and then they’re in holding for four hours. How is that not going to get soggy?”
And so Santana’s has offered everything baked—in particular, its empanadas, which have been a perennial favorite for the brand’s four and a half years in operation.
Now, tucked away in a location in Delray Beach’s Design District that will make it a certifiable hidden gem, Santana’s Kitchen will be expanding its menu with options that were never possible for catering. This much we know—the actual details on the menu are still under wraps, however. But expect to keep seeing new takes on the classics. As Santana puts it, “it might not be traditional, but the flavors are.”
“I think our focus really is just heartfelt hospitality, that’s kind of what we strive for. Dine with the people who matter in your life. Eat, drink, dance, and have a cocktail. We encourage anybody and everybody, whether you’re from Latin cultures or have no idea what Latin food is—come in and sit down.”
