Selbin Castro is calling out names as quickly as the bright green bags are filled with orders at Surfside Taco Stand. The co-manager Angelica Martin is handling the payment and delivery of the bags to the correct customer. She says the biggest challenge so far has been finding the best way to keep the service quick and have great customer service.
Surfside Taco Stand opened at Chesterbrook Shopping Mall on Oct. 22, and Martin says it was a great
opening and a really busy weekend. She described Surfside as a place where everything is homemade. “Everything is made here fresh every day by our Mexican chef Diego Rivera.”
Martin had just finished a St. Lucia taco with fried shrimp and creamy slaw. “So good” although her very favorite is the Maui taco with grilled fresh barramundi, black bean corn salsa and lime crema on corn tortillas.
Although the theme of the restaurant is island-related and many of the choices include fish, she says the customer favorite so far has been the Birria which is braised beef brisket with Monterey jack cheese, sweet onion and cilantro.
You can sit at the tables by the wall (inside) with hanging surfboards or on stools by the front windows or at the tables on the outside patio. And while you are tasting your quesadilla, burrito or taco, or munching on street corn served with a toothpick you can guess how many miles to the island destinations that are listed on a large road sign inside the front door.
Today Martin’s seven-year-old son Caleb is roaming the store “helping a little bit” by cleaning a few tables and putting drinks in the refrigerator. He had just devoured an egg burrito which he declared “good with rice, eggs, cheese and a lot of vegetables like broccoli and carrots” and says he is having fun helping his mom.
Surfside has several locations in the metropolitan area but this is the first to open in Northern Virginia. This location is open on the weekends until 2 a.m. Martin says, “We are hoping to attract people from nightclubs around here, and there is a university nearby.” She says everyone in this neighborhood has been very nice.
A grand opening is planned on Saturday, Nov. 7 from 11 am-3 pm with special activities and samples of food. Surfside is located at 6218 Old Dominion Drive in McLean.
Surfside Grand Opening Party
Live music, face painting, scratch offs, free samples and more
Date: Saturday, Nov. 7
Time: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Address: Chesterbrook Shopping Plaza
6218 Old Dominion Drive
McLean, Va. 22101