La Cocina Restaurant

Participated in the May 2009 Taste the World event, and participating in the 2010 Taste the World coupon book.

Opened in October 2007

Andy and Maria Taveras, owners
111 E. King St.
Lancaster PA 17602
(717) 481-9950
MTuWThF 9am-7:30pm

To try on your first visit: Rice and beans cooked in the style that owners Maria and Andy Taveras knew from growing up in the Dominican Republic. In this, as in all dishes, "we try to cook the way we would cook at home," Maria says. "We start from scratch each day."

Maria Taveras grew up in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, while her husband was raised on the north side of the island nation. Her favorite food when she was growing up? "The plaintain," she says immediately. She also loved eggplant and still counts the two as her favorites.

"I'm not a meat eater," she says. In the Dominican Republic, her middle-class family served meat each day. As Maria passed through poorer neighborhoods on the way to and from school, she'd gaze longingly at families eating spaghetti and codfish, wishing she could have pasta and fish instead of meat.

Today, her 13-year-old son, also named Andy, has a wide range of dinner options. He eats at the restaurant each weekday night - the family spending time together there after he's done with school and Maria gets off from her work as a social worker at Hospice of Lancaster. Does he try a different dish each night? "He always eats the same," Maria says, "vegetable, rice and beans, chicken."

To do: Talk with your family about what you would order if you ate in your own restaurant every night. Would you get the same thing? Something different each night? What would be the best thing about your family having a restaurant? The worst?

written by Marla Pierson Lester; photos by Matthew Lester Photography