The Best of Both Worlds in Myrtletown
The banana caramel pecan crêpe. Photos by Jessica Ashley Silva
Let’s cut to the chase: It’s been rough navigating this economy. With many of us saving our pretty pennies, it’s been a real lesson in self-control denying myself the luxury of eating out as often as I’d like. Some days I’m more successful than others, but on the days I just don’t have the willpower to cook for myself, I’m trying to make intentional choices that balance flavor and budget so I can reward myself with eating out just a little more often. When a friend (who’s also in the throes of this economic slump) recommended a new-to-me cafe as kind to the tastebuds as it is to the wallet, I had to jam over and try it.
Aroma’s Cafe is an unassuming little spot in Eureka’s Myrtletown. Walking in, the community vibe is immediately apparent. It’s a welcoming spot with plants accenting the corners and shelves where space allows, as well as paintings, mosaics and hanging prisms for sale by local artists. The cafe has a following of people from all walks of life: blue-collar workers grabbing some grub on their way to work; a studious fellow with glasses and a laptop sipping a coffee and working away; a couple sitting in one of the comfy corner nooks nibbling while in deep conversation. It’s obvious people feel at home in the little cafe, and while the food is the biggest driver for bringing people back multiple times per week, the loyalty is driven in no small part by the vibrant women who run the place.
A flight of mimosas, from mango to raspberry.
Marisol Madriz and Adela Rodriguez are essentially a two-woman show. Over the past couple decades of their friendship, Madriz and Rodriguez have worked front of the house in some of Humboldt’s favorite restaurants. But in late 2023, they opened the cafe and took on the responsibility of the whole house — the front, the back, the books, all of it. “It’s been a learning curve,” says Madriz, “We’re used to working in full kitchens with hoods and fryers, but now we have a small, limited space so we’ve had to be creative with our menu.” Their menu is a big draw for someone like me, a “Halfican” (in my case, a half German-Russian half Mexican) who loves a classic biscuits and gravy as much as I love a traditional Mexican breakfast on Sundays.
One of their traditional dishes from the Mexican side of their menu is chilaquiles, a textural flavor bomb of sauce-soaked crispy tortilla chips with generous crumbles of cotija cheese, fresh onions and sour cream drizzled on top. My recommendation? Order it Christmas style — that’s with half red sauce and half green sauce — with scramb zled egg on top. Their sauces are homemade, with tomatoes and tomatillos roasted to perfection to create traditional flavors from their Mexican roots. Their sauces are also featured on their homemade enchiladas (both chicken and potato-spinach for the non-meat eaters) and if you’re looking for some heat, check out their macha salsa (I’m not joking when I say it’s extremely spicy and not for the faint of heart — don’t say I didn’t warn you).
Another Mexican dish gracing their menu is their pozole rojo, a rich broth with hunks of pork and generous amounts of hominy, served with traditional accompaniments of fresh cabbage, red onion, and a lemon wedge. On a rainy day, this soup is heaven-sent. “We have customers who have never tried pozole. We give them a sample and they love it, they stick with it and they come back for it. It’s very rewarding when they like our traditional foods. Some customers who have traveled to Mexico, they come and say it tastes just like what they’d get from there. It’s so nice to hear those things from our customers,” Madriz tells me.
To complement the Mexican options on the menu, there are traditional cafe offerings, like salads and sandwiches, house-baked pastries, and slough of breakfast and drink options (locally made Bootlegger bagels, anyone? How about some Humboldt Bay Coffee?). Breakfast burritos to munch on your drive to work are available, too. Then, to round out their menu, Rodriguez set out on a mission to learn all about crepes, from the perfect pour of the batter to the strategic pairing of flavors and elegant plating to feed your eyes first. You can pick your poison between sweet and savory, but if you go sweet, the banana caramel pecan crepe is *chef’s kiss*.
So how do they manage to keep their prices down with the rising costs of eggs and, well, everything else? The secret is in the simplicity of their business model: Make what you can from scratch, research the competition and keep operational costs down. “It’s important to us to keep our customers happy and for them to be able to afford a meal. Food is expensive and we do have to charge more for things like eggs now which are through the roof. We don’t take the pricing lightly, we think hard about when and why we should adjust our prices ... to make sure we are competitive,” says Madriz. Rodriguez adds, “It helps that we don’t have to pay extra labor right now.”
As they look toward the future, though, with their growing customer base, they eventually plan to make their first hire so they can produce more volume and continue to develop their offerings. They hope to add local cider to expand their new mimosa menu — I fully recommend a flight of four flavors, or you can stick with a single flavor (only $5 as a special on Mimosa Mondays). Next time you’re in Myrtletown, stop in and meet the ladies. With so many great food options around, sometimes it’s both the food and the people who have you coming back for more. “We’ve been so lucky and grateful for the community welcoming us and supporting us, they thank us for being here when they walk out the door,” says Madriz with pride, and she’s not wrong.