A new café with a Latin flair is open on Route 1 and Hickory Hill Road in Pennsbury Township where Mushrooms used to be. Margie Perez opened the shop with no fanfare in February. She describes the shop as a light fusion of Columbian and the more standard North American flavors. As she said, “I’m living the dream.”
Ironically, Perez said she never cooked while growing up in Columbia. She didn’t have to because her grandmother cooked. But now that she’s in the states and has her own place, Perez is using her grandmother’s recipes as the foundation for her own creations. And she’s been developing them for 13 years. She calls it “sazon.”
While sazon is a specific seasoning that blends coriander, cumin, achiote, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper, Perez describes it as flavorful but not hot.
Her Columbian-inspired dishes include desgranado, a corn salad with cheese, lettuce, potato strings, cilantro lime and pineapple sauces; corrientazo, or Latin bowl with chicken, rice, beans, and a house dressing, and stuffed arepas, a cornbread patty stuffed with a choice of meat, queso, potato strings, and a pink sauce. They each go for $17.
Other prices range from banana nut bread for $4.50, sandwiches for $16, and bowls ranging in price from $15 to $19. Mushroom soup is $10. And Perez said everything is made from scratch on-site.
Margie’s Cuisine is open from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
