Esencia Latina brings unique Latin cuisine from various countries to Oxford

In the past year, three new Latin restaurants have opened in Oxford. Esencia Latina, the most recent of the three to open, offers a menu that may look a bit different from a typical Latin restaurant.

Located at 313 South College Ave., Esencia Latina serves food from the Caribbean, Venezuela, El Salvador, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala and more. With the exception of tacos, most menu items aren’t found at other similar restaurants.

Cristobal Solorzano, the manager of Esencia Latina, said a goal of the restaurant is to serve authentic Latin cuisine, rather than what has been popularized in the United States as “Mexican food.” Instead, they hope to give people in Oxford the experience of what food people really eat in Latin America.

“The food is totally different,” Solorzano said. “... We have food made with fried plantain. We have food that is not only from Mexico.”

The walls of the restaurant are lined with various pieces of artwork, including paintings of different Latin American countries and a mural of La Catrina, a 19th-century art piece.

In the future, Solorzano said they hope to expand their artwork by inviting Miami University students to contribute different pieces of art to display at the restaurant.

Solorzano said at the moment, the restaurant gets around 16 customers a day, but they don’t have enough staff to do more advertising. However, they are looking to hire college students with connections to Latin America.

“People who come here and try our food [are] … sometimes very happy with the food and they share it … and other people see it there, and they come in and try it and they talk to their friends,” Solorzano said. “That’s mainly the way we have advertised so far, just from person to person with their friends.”

Solorzano said with some dishes, it is difficult to pinpoint an exact country of origin as they are traditionally eaten in more than one. He said that while he’s used to eating certain foods in Guatemala, that is not necessarily the only place they are eaten.

“One of our major goals is to always keep updating our menus. We want to keep bringing food from other countries, because the menu we have, although it’s big, is a very limited view overall of the food we have in Latin America,” Solorzano said.

Cocina Latina and El Portrero Mexican Restaurant and Grill (formerly Quesadilla Express), also started business in Oxford in the past year. Fiesta Charra and El Burrito Loco have served Mexican cuisine to the community for years. What sets Esencia Latina apart, Solorzano said, is their emphasis on foods from Latin American countries beyond Mexico. Solorzano said he would be thrilled to see more authentic Latin restaurants in Oxford to open residents up to new foods.

The name for the restaurant, Esencia Latina, comes from the words Latin essence. Solorzano said that what they offer is directly related to this name, with their food representing the feeling of Latin America.

“The idea of coming to a place like this, besides the delicious food, having dinner, is to give people a wider perspective of what is Latin America,” Solorzano said. “Not only the food, but also the people. Always the people, always the art of Latin America.”

Shana Rosenberg visited the restaurant on Sept. 17 and enjoyed it so much that she decided to share her experience on Facebook. To Rosenberg’s surprise, she and her husband were the only two customers in the restaurant.

Rosenberg enjoyed the plantains, describing them as having the perfect texture and great flavor. She also noted the positive customer service she received, and learned about the history of Guatemala in the process.

“I think it is important. I want people to be able to have different kinds of foods,” Rosenberg said. “I think it’s good for our economy to have a lot of different options.”

Rosenberg said the food was tasty and that she was a big fan of the atmosphere. She described both the service and food as great, saying that she would highly recommend it.

Juiquetta Harmon, a barber in Oxford, said she visits the restaurant at least twice a week, sometimes more. For Harmon, going to the restaurant isn’t just for the food, it’s for the experience.

“I want to say I’ve had a consistent experience, but it’s been consistently better and better every time I come because I try a different item each time I come, and I’m surprised each time,” Harmon said.

Harmon said that having a restaurant like this in Oxford is important due to the diverse hub of people and businesses, all coming from different cultures and backgrounds. She said the restaurant provides an experience she has never seen anything quite like before.

“Here you come in, and it’s like someone is welcoming you into their home,” Harmon said. “They’re welcoming you to their family. They’re welcoming you to sit at their table and allow them to serve you in a way that you haven’t been served before.”