During my spring semester internship, when one of my bosses found out about my column, she recommended a variety of restaurants for me to check out. With her being half Colombian, her recommendation for Colombian food from La Maria Restaurant stuck out to me the most. 

After making the drive to Burbank, two friends and I, hungry from skipping breakfast, arrived at La Maria. Near the entrance was the cashier, alongside a small stand and fridge for buying any Colombian goodies your heart desires. The tables were all adorned in yellow, blue and red tablecloths — the colors of the Colombian flag. 

No wall in the restaurant was left bare, with roof tiles lining most, giving the restaurant a homey feeling. Handcrafted Colombian trinkets adorned with illustrations of cityscapes were abundant. One wall featured a large mural of what appeared to be an old Colombian town square.

La Maria has many Colombian drinks available, from malt-flavored sodas to homemade coffee. One of my friends, Daily Trojan Soapbox Podcast editor Fabián Gutiérrez, ordered a Pony Malta; though I wouldn’t order the soda on my own, it is bound to be a big hit with fans of alcohol-free beer. My other friend, Daily Trojan Associate Managing Editor Anna Jordan, ordered a lemonade, which came frozen but was otherwise pretty standard.

I ordered the Colombian Cafe con Leche. The first sip was decent, but in a rare feat, each subsequent sip became better than the last. Unsweetened and milky with a foamy top, this was my ideal coffee. While the price might seem a little steep, at $6 a cup, its large size more than made up for the cost. Having taken sips of my coffee throughout the meal, my friends even ordered their own by the end as a nice closer. 

Appetizers for the table included complimentary tortilla chips and salsa, along with an order of yucca fries. The yucca fries were quite lovely; similar to French fries, but the starchy yucca texture brought a nice extra chew. 

I ordered another small appetizer for myself, a chicken empanada. Colombian empanadas are fried, not baked, giving the thick dough a nice crunch. The chicken inside was warm and seasoned in a way that reminded me of chicken soup. 

But the dish I spent the most time savoring was the Bandeja Paisa. The dish is very popular with Colombians in the northwestern part of the country, especially in the region of Antioquia — home of the paisas. The dish is large and has a little bit of everything, perfect for sharing — or for anyone with a large appetite. Fabián and I would end up tackling it together. 

The dish contained a fried egg, rice, brown beans, sliced avocado, chorizo, grilled steak, chicharron, plantain and a tiny arepa. The strength of this dish lies in its variety of items, with the flavor of each item perfectly solid on its own and only strengthened by its neighbors. While everything on the plate was good, there were some standouts. 

The plantains surprised me. I haven’t always been their biggest fan, but after spending most of my time at USC being friends with a Costa Rican and a Colombian, I’ve learned to like them. My experience with La Maria’s plantains, however, was the first time I truly understood their appeal. They were soft, starchy and sweet, but not too sweet. They were perfect on their own but offered an important balance to the rest of the salty platter. 

The grilled steak was perfectly simple. It was a lean cut, with a bit of char and seemingly only seasoned with salt and pepper. Easy to cut and not too chewy, every bite was more than welcome. The chorizo was delicious and had a nice herbal seasoning to it. The only downside was that the small amount of chorizo on the plate left me craving more the entire meal. 

The chicharron was a great fatty pork counterpart to the leanness of the steak. Crispy and soft, each bite melted into liquid gold. I’m usually averse to foods that are too fatty, but the chicharron is welcome in my stomach any time. 

Anna ordered the carne asada platter. This cut of meat was thicker and fattier compared to the cut on the bandeja paisa. Cooked medium rare, the bite I stole from her was nice and juicy. The platter as a whole resembled a lite version of the bandeja paisa, containing fried plantains, avocado, beans and rice.

While the drive is a little far from USC, La Maria Restaurant is somewhere I’ll definitely be going back to — and you, dear reader, should definitely make the trip. What we ate on our visit was only the tip of the iceberg, with the menu containing an extensive selection of breakfast meals, hearty platters, Colombian alcohol and more. La Maria is a perfect introduction to Colombian cuisine. 

Pablo Rodriguez is a rising senior writing about international cuisine in Los Angeles in his column, “Global Gastronomy.”