April 1, 2025—El Padrino, Spanish for “godfather,” makes an offer you can’t refuse.
That offer, in a word, is Oaxaca.
El Padrino Restaurant on Broadway in Seaside draws from Oaxaca in a way that’s authentic but inventive, vibrant but earthy, recently opened but old-school, with regional identity on the plate and on the walls and on the tables too.
The menu covers a lot of ground, but all of it (you guessed it) in the foodiest state in Mexico.
There are warmup dishes like fried quesadillas and mole nachos, and traditional dishes like memelitas (thick corn pucks with lots of toppings) and molotes (stuffed and fried dough balls).
A transcendent highlight of Oaxaquan cuisine headlines here, with visibly slow-simmered mole negro (and chicken or pork), joined by another southerly favorite in tlayudas (huge, crispy, thin tortillas layered with house bean paste, chorizo, potatoes, queso fresco and handmade salsa).
Important note there: When two staffers took their lunch, they both had tlayudas.
The lineup at at 740 Broadway/Obama Ave. in Seaside also dabbles in empanadas with mole amarillo, mole verde, and quesillo-mushroom, and dips into tacos and tortes Oaxaqueños as well.
A ride on the merry-go-round provides the most direct route to experiencing the swath: The “Carrusel” circles up three deep-fried quesadillas, three flautas, four molotes and house “guacamole.”
It proves intriguing, tasty and textural, and more than enough for two to share.
The thing that accelerates all of them sits at its center, the lively tomatillo-avocado salsa that would be dreamy to have on tap at home.
There was an indicator this place would impress, beyond its geographic heritage.
It parks right around the corner at La Morenita Tortillera and Meat Market at 1876 Fremont Blvd., Seaside.
Most evenings and all day Sunday, a customized van steered by Macri’s Tamales & Catering serves some of the better tamales in the area, paired with traditional beverages atole and champurrado.
Inocencia and Sergio Vasquez run it with the help of their kids, and her recipes for the same Oaxacan mole that stars at El Padrino.
In fact, Sergio says their children have advocated for a family restaurant since they were little, and once they grew to adulthood, they had the necessary squad, and started Macri’s as proof-of-concept about three years back.
“My wife said, ‘Let’s try, let’s do it,’ and people liked how our food was seasoned,” Sergio says. “It’s family.”
They took the photographs for the murals while back in Oaxaca on vacation, thinking, “This is gonna work for our restaurant.”
“So if people can’t travel to Oaxaca,” he adds, “they can feel like they’re in Oaxaca.”
He’s ripping a passage from notes I typed before we talked:
Many a visitor to Mexico’s southern state, and any of the many immigrants who have relocated to the tri-county area, can extoll its virtues.
It completes a lofty checklist of nature, history, architecture, triumphant food and, yes, tiny-batch homemade mescal like Pacha Mama intended.
But not everyone is gets the chance to visit.
That said, the Oaxaca draw almost feels like a supporting reason to go. (Almost.)
Just as important: This is a close knit operation with business chops and clear inter-connectivity who, from my seat eating tamales on the curb and in the El Padrino dining room, loves doing what it does, together.
El Padrino, 749 Broadway, Seaside. Hours are 10:30am-8pm Monday-Wednesday, 10:30am-9pm Friday-Sunday, closed Thursday. More at Instagram and TikTok.
About the author
Mark C. Anderson, Edible Monterey Bay's managing editor, appears on "Friday Found Treasures" via KRML 94.7 every week, a little after 12pm noon. Reach him via mark@ediblemontereybay.com.
