On the surface, the diner where I went every Sunday morning as a kid is nothing like the one where I found myself sitting on a recent sunny afternoon. Instead of an old Greek dude, a cool millennial couple came out to shoot the shit with customers. And my hometown haunt definitely did not serve empanadas.
The energy was the same, though. An American mainstay, diners evoke a familial warmth and welcome; they’re casual, convivial places to find a hot meal and shared humanity. Café Mamajuana‘s new Colchester location — which fills the vacancy left by the Guilty Plate Diner — isn’t open 24-7, but it passes the vibe check. Plus, it’s got the benefit of delicious, inventive food dreamed up by 32-year-old chef and co-owner Maria Lara-Bregatta, who earned a James Beard Foundation Best New Restaurant semifinalist nod in 2022 for the previous incarnation of Café Mamajuana in Burlington.
Lara-Bregatta spent time in her father’s Dominican restaurant as a child, but she didn’t plan on running one herself. That changed after she graduated from the University of Vermont in 2017 and realized her community lacked Caribbean cuisine. Lara-Bregatta built up her foodie fan base from an ArtsRiot pop-up to a 20-seat spot in the Oak Street Cooperative in Burlington’s Old North End.
During a two-plus-year hiatus from regular restaurant service, Lara-Bregatta ran Café Mamajuana as an events catering company while she figured out how to balance business with raising a family. In late January, she opened the 54-seat diner. To eat at Lara-Bregatta’s table is to experience her culinary talents as a celebration of her heritage and dedication to her family and community.
Offerings at the new joint include staples of Lara-Bregatta’s previous menu and then some. “I added items like the plantain Benedict to appease folks who are looking for something familiar but with sabor,” she said, using the Spanish word for “flavor.” Diners can add a fried egg to anything on the menu, and fresh tropical juice, Caribbean coffee and pastries from a display case are always on offer, as in the diners of Lara-Bregatta’s youth.
The chef grew up in South Jersey, where “diner culture is super prevalent,” she said. Her husband, Geovann Ventura, who co-owns the café, had a similar experience in North Jersey.
The Vermont location she now occupies earned a special place in their hearts more recently. “We ended up telling our family we were expecting our daughter, Ayla, in our current space, [when it was] the Guilty Plate Diner,” Lara-Bregatta said.
The day I visited, sun streamed through the large-paned windows, warming the booth where I sat across from a friend. We pored over the menu as I sipped tea from a funky, handcrafted mug.
I was tempted by familiar favorites such as la canoa (a stuffed, topped sweet plantain, $18), the passion fruit vinaigrette-dressed green salad with goat cheese ($14) and à la carte empanadas ($5.50). But this time, the burrito ($15) was calling my name, as was the tropical take on a Caesar salad ($15).
My dining companion was torn between the tostones Benedict ($18) and poutine Dominicana ($14) — two dishes that exemplify the restaurant’s niche of diner classics with a Caribbean spin. She settled on the latter, won over by the yuca fries.
It was Valentine’s Day, as evinced by the presence of several toddlers in heart-adorned outfits. One child donned a chef’s hat and frilly apron to play at the toy kitchen that anchors a corner of the diner’s open-concept space.
Café Mamajuana is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Lara-Bregatta said the current schedule is about balancing work and her family’s needs and that the business incorporates the strengths of her husband and 3-year-old daughter. (Those who visit when Ayla is around will note that her sole job is being unfathomably cute.) “We are working on a playroom for her in my office, not unlike what I had at my parents’ restaurant growing up,” Lara-Bregatta said.
Ventura fills myriad roles: managing the staff, smoking the weekly brisket, preparing his specialty (los tres golpes: a fried egg, fried cheese and fried salami over mashed plantains, $15), and troubleshooting equipment.
On Valentine’s Day, his tie-dye sweatshirt perfectly matched the frosted-grape, cranberry and brick-red color scheme of the diner, my friend and I noticed with delight as he delivered food to a neighboring table. Lara-Bregatta stopped to greet my friend, whose wedding welcome party she catered in 2023. “Did you get the Benedict?” she asked excitedly, touting her new creation. My friend promised she’d be back soon to give it a try.
My burrito consisted of fluffy, seasoned rice and tender beans wrapped in a flat-top-crisped tortilla. It struck a balance between a little heat and a little sweet, thanks to the respective contributions of avocado salsa and soft-cooked plantains.
We deemed the poutine a shareable decadence; it could be meal-worthy with the addition of slow-roasted pork ($4) to the standard gravy. The Caesar salad — verdant, zesty and bejeweled with seared blood orange slices — made us feel just virtuous enough to discuss between bites which flavor of doughnut should cap the meal. More full than expected, I took a guava doughnut ($4) and a passion fruit tart ($8) to go as a concession to my husband, who was bummed to miss the trip.
He made sure to free up an afternoon the following week — and, remembering Lara-Bregatta’s endorsement, I suggested the Benedict. Two velvety poached eggs were perched atop piles of fall-apart-tender shredded pork, anchored by shatterably crispy plantain cakes and drizzled with silky adobo hollandaise. We agreed that the chef had not oversold us on the dish.
Having opted myself for the tres leches French toast ($14), I envied the umami of my husband’s selection. I stole a bite of the über-crispy plantains, then dug into my own plate, which turned out to be the best French toast I’ve ever had. The nooks and crannies of the house-baked brioche absorbed three-milk custard spiked with Dominican vanilla. Griddled to brown-butter perfection and served with additional custard reminiscent of crème anglaise and housemade tropical fruit jam, the toast didn’t even need maple syrup. (Not that that stopped this Vermonter from using it!) Lara-Bregatta later said the dish is an homage to her favorite flavor of cake made by Ventura’s grandmother, who owns a Dominican bakery in New Jersey.
If Burlington-based fans of Lara-Bregatta bemoan the extra travel time to get their fix, it’s not hurting the diner’s popularity. I could have sat for hours sipping coffee in the sunny pleather booth if it weren’t for the waiting area filled with hopefuls hungrily eyeing my table.
Lara-Bregatta said the move to Colchester feels right. “We have the space to spread out, show our culture through art and music, and, most importantly, it’s in my neighborhood,” she said. She gardens and raises chickens on the Colchester homestead she shares with Ventura and their daughter. As in the past, she said, some of that produce will show up in the restaurant.
Lara-Bregatta plans to change menu items seasonally. The pending liquor license will enable her to serve the café’s namesake beverage — steeped wine, rum and honey with tree bark and herbs, a drink that is both medicinal and widely viewed as an aphrodisiac — plus tropical mimosas, Bloody Marys and more.
As we paid at the counter, my husband couldn’t resist a dulce brownie ($5) from the near-empty pastry case. The heavenly French toast had satisfied my sweet tooth for the time being, but thankfully he saved me half for later. The chewy, caramelly, just-a-little-salty square was nothing like the offerings in the display case of the diner of my youth. I cherish those memories, but I’ll take a Mamajuana brownie over a stale muffin any day.