El Viejo's Modern Take on Central American Cooking

"Not many Central American lunch spots in Maryland have their own mascot. But at El Viejo Central American Kitchen, the door, walls, and menus are decorated with images of the eponymous Viejo: a mustachioed, cap-wearing skeleton who looks like something Mexican illustrator José Guadalupe Posada might draw if he were commissioned by a baseball team. "El Viejo" (or "the old man") is the work of Henry Blanco, who graduated from the University of Maryland with an art degree."

"Juan Blanco fled to the US from El Salvador during the civil war in 1983 and joined the many Salvadoran Americans who entered the Washington area's restaurant industry. He worked in kitchens and, for a time, at DC's Metropolitan Club. These days, he owns two Gaithersburg locations of the Salvi-Tex-Mex Ay Jalisco. Henry, who was once a busboy and server at the family restaurants, went on to spend four years at the corporate office of Cava."

El Viejo Central American Kitchen features a mustachioed, cap-wearing skeleton mascot named El Viejo on its door, walls and menus. Henry Blanco, a University of Maryland art graduate who grew up working in his parents' Montgomery County restaurants, created the mascot and helped open the Silver Spring location in 2023. Juan Blanco fled El Salvador in 1983 and later owned other local restaurants. Menu highlights include a customizable plato tipico breakfast, spot-on pupusas, notable bean and Guatemalan-style chicken tamales, and a sweet deep-fried corn tamal served with crema. Most filling meals cost under $10.

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