La Sardina Loca, or “The Crazy Sardine” in Gringo speak, may not be the only Mexican restaurant in Washington County, but as the name implies, it certainly qualifies as the county’s most unusual.

In a word, La Sardina Loca, in the old Masonic Building at 28 Water St in downtown Eastport, is mucho “fun,” with an atmosphere hotter than a jalapeno. Stepping inside, diners are greeted by the mouth-watering aroma of Mexican cooking.

“It was mom’s dream to have a Mexican restaurant,” Lenny Maggiani, chief cook at La Sardina Loca explained. “Then I married a Mexican.”

His mother’s dream became a reality on June 15, 1990, when, opening its doors for the first time, La Sardina Loca became the nation’s easternmost Mexican restaurant, offering south-of-the-border flavor in way Down East.

“When it first opened, people came out of curiosity,” Lenny continued. “It went really well for a while, then business slowed down a bit. It goes in cycles, like the economy. But we’ve been pretty busy here lately.”

Lenny was still living in Oregon, where he met his wife, when his parents, Val and Chuck Maggiani, opened the Eastport cantina for business. Although Chuck is a capable cook, filling in when Lenny is away, the kitchen is clearly Lenny’s domain.

“Some of the recipes come from my wife,” Lenny said, while sprinkling an array of ground spices onto a burrito mix cooking on the grill. “Others are my own.”

His chicken fajitas and enchiladas are the cantina’s most popular menu offerings, Lenny said. With winter, and an unusually long cold spell even for Maine, came an increase in demand for fresh, hot soups, Lenny said. But by far, his most difficult-to-prepare dishes are, surprisingly, his omelets.

“I’m really picky about them,” explained Lenny. “It’s hard to get them just right, especially when it’s really busy.”

Lenny, a self-taught cook who never had any formal training or experience behind a grill, said he simply learned as he went along. His mother volunteered a slightly different perspective, however, saying her son was already a master of heating canned spaghetti at age 7.

“He lived on that stuff,” she said, laughing.

Except for the flour tortilla shells he uses, which are bought from a supplier, Lenny makes everything, from meat, bean, rice and cheese fillings, to the fresh sauces from scratch.

“It’s the only way to do it right,” he says.

Most of the spices and fresh ingredients that give Mexican food its distinctive taste and aroma, are readily available locally, Lenny said. His dishes rely heavily on garlic — both whole and powder — and fresh cilantro, a parsley-like herb found in the fresh vegetable case of many area grocery stores. See LA on next page

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Good avocados, a necessity in making guacamole, are a different matter.

“It’s really hard to get good avocados here,” Lenny said. “I also wish we had a source for fresh tortilla shells. I could make them myself, but I’d be here all day and night doing it.”

Asked how spicy the regulars liked their food, Lenny replied, “Medium-hot, I guess, although I like mine really hot. If I make something too hot, they let me know.”

When he first took over in the kitchen, Lenny tried using a more fiery type of hot pepper.

“Nobody could handle it,” he laughed, “so I had to drop it.”

The food is only half the fun, however. Experiencing “the crazy fish,” as some locals call it, and its, well, unusual atmosphere is the other half. The Mexican flag, fluttering above the main entrance, only hints at what awaits inside.

Housed in what was once the Eastport A&P, La Sardina Loca is a museum, packed to its rafters with original turn-of-the century signs and pictures hung or strung on walls and from pipes and beams above.

Pinatas galore dangle overhead, and a fully decorated Christmas tree hangs precariously upside-down from the ceiling. Twinkling fairy lights, Mexican sombreros and inflated critters of every description — but mostly of fish — are everywhere. Diners can eat or talk to the accompaniment of mariachi and other traditional Mexican music, played from a sound system on the restaurant’s stage.

“The signs were here when we moved in,” said Lenny. “Mom’s added the pinatas and other things as we’ve gone along.”

La Sardina Loca is open from 4 p.m. to closing, usually 10 p.m., Thursday through Sunday. Supper reservations are recommended, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, when entertainment is sometimes booked. For more information, call 853-2739.

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Lenny’s Killer Chicken Fajitas

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6 strips chicken breast, sliced into 3-by-1 1/2-inch wide strips jalapeno pepper juice, sufficient to cover the chicken strips. 1/3 cup chopped bell peppers 1/3 cup chopped onions Pinch of minced garlic

1/8 teaspoon garlic salt or powder

1/8 teaspoon chili powder

1/8 teaspoon cumin Salt and pepper to taste Fresh cilantro Flour tortillas 1 tablespoon olive oil for frying

Marinate chicken strips “overnight” in jalapeno juice, ensuring that the juice covers the strips. “This is the most important thing,” says Lenny. “That’s what makes my chicken fajitas really different.”

When ready, fry the meat in a small amount of olive oil in a skillet — some people even use a Wok, Lenny said — together with minced garlic, garlic powder or salt, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and cilantro. “I just use dashes of each and season to taste,” Lenny explains.

When meat and seasonings are nearly done frying, add chopped bell peppers and onions to the mixture, frying them only a few minutes until sauteed.

Prepare tortillas by heating both sides on a grill or in a frying pan, lightly coated in olive oil. They can also be lightly buttered, wrapped tightly in aluminum foil, and heated 5-10 minutes in an oven preheated to 350 degrees.

Scoop the filling onto the center of a heated tortilla, then roll and fold the filled tortilla like a burrito and enjoy. Recipe makes one serving.

But as Lenny cautions, don’t be too disappointed if your chicken fajitas don’t quite match those he makes at La Sardina Loca. “A lot of people have tried making them,” Lenny said, “but everyone tells me theirs never quite taste like mine.”

Ole!