La Bendita Mexican Restaurant Reopens In Westfield With New Menu Items

WESTFIELD, NJ — After closing its doors for two months, La Bendita in Westfield is open once again with lots of new menu options.

When the Mexican restaurant first opened its Westfield location in August, Valverde said he and his new partner, Marbin Salazar, felt that they were not ready for the Westfield crowd.

"... We decided that it'd be best to change everything, so we started going back to our old ways, and got more involved on everything ]from the recipes to teaching our waiters how we wanted them to greet our customers," Valverde said. "People will notice a more professional environment when they enter our restaurant."

Now with a change in management, Valverde said the restaurant is coming back "even better" and has changed some of its recipes while maintaining its authentic Mexican flavors.

He and his wife, Ana Laura Santaella, opened the first La Bendita location in Plainfield in May of 2021. The owners wanted to bring the restaurant to Westfield, as they felt the town was lacking authentic Mexican cuisine.

Read more: La Bendita Brings Authentic Mexican Cuisine To Westfield This Summer

"Our kitchen staff have many years of experience, ranging from 5 to 15 years, and the best part is that they are all Mexican, which makes them very knowledgeable about authentic Mexican food," Valverde told Patch.

"We have plenty of new dishes to choose from, the dishes that my wife and I are most excited about are the cochinita pibil tacos, the arrachera, the tostadas de tinga, el elote and we brought back the flavor of Birria tacos that made us popular in Plainfield."

Birria tacos typically contain marinated beef or chicken, along with onion, cilantro and melted mozzarella wrapped in a warm corn tortilla.

La Bendita is located at 116 Quimby Street, and you can check out all they have to offer on Facebook and Instagram.