Local Eats

SABROSO COCINA MEXICANA

By Mabel Suen

Sabroso Cocina Mexicana, which debuted last fall in St. Ann, offers traditional, from-scratch fare from various Mexican regions, with signature menu items including street tacos, quesabirria (a taco/quesadilla cross) and huaraches (a fried oblong dish).

The restaurant comes from chef-owner Miguel Pintor and his wife, Brandin Maddock. Pintor was born in Tabasco in southern Mexico and was raised in Mexico City, where he learned to cook at an early age while helping his mother sell street tacos – a tradition she continues to uphold weekly to this day.

At 17, Pintor moved to the metro area and quickly found himself in kitchens of various chain restaurants before landing a job with restaurateurs Jason and Adam Tilford. He racked up 22 years of experience in the industry, most recently serving as the culinary director for Mission Taco Joint before being laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than despair, though, Pintor took the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of opening his own restaurant.

“When I was looking for a location, I didn’t realize having a church next to the business meant we wouldn’t be able to have a liquor license,” says

Pintor, who hopes to someday open a second location so he can serve scratch-made mixed drinks as he’d hoped to. “But that makes me work even harder to make sure the food here is worth coming back for again and again.” Sabroso means “yummy” or “delicious,” and Pintor hopes to offer a tasty tour of Mexican culture through his food. He insists on doing as much as possible from scratch – from grinding corn for tortillas and tamales to baking bread for tortas and pambazo. The latter sandwich features housemade buns brushed with marinade and stuffed with chorizo, potatoes, lettuce, sour cream and queso fresco.

Additional highlights from the menu include the same street tacos that Pintor’s mother has been selling for more than 40 years, including al pastor served with grilled pineapple and topped with onions and cilantro. One of Pintor’s favorite dishes is enchiladas de mole, featuring a sauce made up of 18 different dried peppers and chocolate served atop the diner’s choice of beef, chicken or cheese enchiladas with cheese, onions and rice.

Signature dishes include Jalisco-style shredded beef birria with consommè, as well as cochinita pibil – a dish from the Yucatan peninsula made up of slow-roasted pork and pickled habanero onions served with rice, beans and tostadas. Drink options include house-made horchata, agua de Jamaica and champurrado – Mexican hot chocolate thickened with ground corn.

Sabroso fills a roughly 2,500-square-foot space with around 80 seats. Local artist Jason Butler contributed several murals to the interior, including a map of Mexico highlighting various regional dishes, as well as paintings representing Mexican tribes. An Olmec head, for instance, symbolizes Pintor’s native Tabasco and is featured prominently on one wall, as well as in the restaurant’s logo.

Sabroso Cocina Mexicana, 11146 Old St. Charles Road, St. Ann, 314-918-5037, stlsabroso.com