Mayan Monkey Brewing Co., located in Gaithersburg, Maryland, hasn’t been around as long as some of the other establishments located in that area, yet its impact has already been felt by many throughout its short lifespan.
Before Mayan Monkey existed, owner Memo Valvida’s parents opened their first restaurant in Old Town Gaithersburg between 1999 and 2000. From there, they opened a traditional-style taqueria in the Rio Town Square complex in 2003. That business expanded to Germantown around the time of the pandemic. Mayan Monkey was born soon after.
“I was in the back peeling tomatoes as a kid. My parents were trying to push the American Dream, trying to start their own business, trying to start up with the family,” Valvida said.
Mayan Monkey serves as a fusion of both American and Mexican culture. It offers Mexican cuisine with its own special twist on American food that isn’t seen too often in other places.
“It’s a multifaceted restaurant. We have live music; we’re brewing our beer in house. We try to make everything in house. If we can make it in house, we’re going to try to make it in the actual kitchen. We try to make it a family-friendly event space, as well.”
One recipe Valvida shared was his restaurant’s take on the classic Manhattan-style drink, a type of cocktail served in many places.
“We switched it up a bit; we converted a bit of the drink into a more Mayan style drink. Mayans, they use a lot of cacao. The cacao that they use inspired the drink to have, instead of the normal bitters, cacao bitters. The drinks taste pretty similar but when you have a little of that bitterness from the cacao, it does give it a nice tweak and a lot of people don’t expect it.”
The restaurant has a very inviting and comfortable atmosphere that caters to intimate and fun-loving family and friend gatherings. In terms of theme and vibes, Valvida wanted to establish a laid-back atmosphere but still allow for a sophisticated and immersive culinary experience for all guests.
“This is not a Michelin star restaurant, but we’re trying our best. Part of the community isn’t just the customers that come in; it’s the people you work with. You want to be happy in your workspace, so we try to get along with all the employees as much as we can. We try to have as much fun while getting to the same outcome, which is giving great service and good-quality food.”
Memo Valvida emphasized the immense and important role the community has played in creating the inviting dynamic that is evident in the restaurant.
“We want to be that one restaurant that’s been here the longest out of everybody. We want to push that, but the thing is with all those interactions comes the community that came with the city of Gaithersburg. Two bartenders I met here got married. There were a few people that used to work here as busboys. All these people come through and it builds more of that community in the sense that everybody has this nostalgia but they’re also excited for the future.”
Many of the early days of Mayan Monkey were filled with positive moments that will live in the lore of this establishment for decades to come, but with running any successful business, there are always setbacks and challenges that need to be overcome along the way.
“I think the biggest challenge so far in this space is mainly the idea of having a multifaceted restaurant where it’s not just a restaurant,” Valvida said. “We have a live venue upstairs where we’re booked for live music all the way until next year and people still don’t know what we are because it says Mayan Monkey Brewing Co. in the name and people think another direction.”
Creating a different style of a Mexican-American dining type environment, especially when the reactions of the public can sway in so many different directions at one time, can be challenging to say the least.
“At the end of the day you can have a generic Mexican restaurant menu, but we’re trying to push the envelope by doing certain things a little more creatively, a little more fun.”
Helping people understand the authenticity of the work you are trying to produce is only achieved through patience and perseverance.
“I think the biggest challenge from all of that is communicating with the customers as to what we are, and we’re like all those things, which is hard. That only comes with time,” Valvida expressed, “once people start realizing they have live music upstairs or they have their own brewery, or that they’re actually making beer in house, or even that this isn’t just a prepackaged meal that they’re just reheating in the kitchen and sending it off. I think those things are a dynamic that only take time and I’m a patient person so I think we can get there.”
In terms of how Mayan Monkey has changed over time in the eyes of Valvida himself, he views the major changes they’ve made as a direct result of the feedback from customers themselves. Memo really drove home the importance of how each individual customer’s input makes a deep impression on himself and the people on his staff.
“They are the ones that are calling the shots. They’re the ones that are literally putting food on the table for us, even though we’re putting food on the table for them right now.