BALTIMORE COUNTY — There’s not even a sign hanging outside.
But foodies have already found Chef Carlos Raba’s newest restaurant, Nana, in Towson.
Raba is the award-winning chef of Clavel restaurant and bar in the Remington neighborhood of Baltimore. He’s received his second nomination for a James Beard Award, the most prestigious award for chefs and restaurateurs in the country.
Now, he’s taken his spin on the homespun food of his homeland, Sinaloa, Mexico, and he’s offering it in its simplest form – a taqueria, or taco diner.
“It’s a family oriented taqueria where you can bring your family and enjoy tacos,” Raba said. “[We] have tacos al pastor, tacos de carne asada, tortas ahogadas, arroz con leche — so we have a variety of dishes that remind me of my childhood.”
Raba said the restaurant is inspired by the women who raised him: his grandmother and aunts. While his mother, a journalist, was busy working, he said he and his aunt walked to a taco cart near their home, usually on Friday evenings.
Similarly, he wants Nana to be the place where people stop to get a savory bite to eat. His plan seems to be working. On Friday afternoon, just two days after the restaurant opened, a steady stream of customers filed into the restaurant in the Stoneleigh shopping center on York Road, just a few blocks north of the city line.
Several people stayed at the diner-style counters as they watched Raba’s staff cut, chop and slice the food. The restaurant features fire-roasted meats, including whole rotisserie chicken spinning in a roaster, that is available as a family meal with sides such as red rice and roasted cauliflower.
The hot dogs and pork (al pastor) are also fire-roasted in front of the diners.
“The difference between Clavel and Nana is the way that we cook the food,” Raba said. “Here, we fire-cook, meaning we cook right on the spot. We also have carne asada on the grill, and our al pastor el trompo (pork seasoned with spices and cooked over fire on a vertical rotisserie), which is an art. These are trades that I try to keep and teach it to people so the tradition goes on.”
Unlike Clavel, there’s no mezcal bar with agave liquors at Nana – glass-bottled Mexican sodas will whet your thirst.
But you can find the handmade flour tortillas that Clavel is known for, at Nana.
“All the tortillas are flour [at Nana],” Raba said. “It’s a recipe from my great-grandmother, passed to my grandmother, from my grandmother to my aunts, so I’m very passionate about that.”
Nana takes over a space that has been vacant for years, and was a trolley station in the 1920s, he said. Raba, who lives near the area, said he’s worked on the concept and the location for at least three years.
Nana is located at 6901 York Road.
