Mexican restaurant began in Philipstown

After 25 years of serving his trademark Mexican cuisine at locations in Philipstown, Fishkill, Beacon and Wappingers Falls, Luis Pinto, the owner and affable presence at the Maya Café on Route 9, has sold the business.

He and his restaurant had come a long way since his days growing up in Merida, the largest city on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. "It had about 250,000 people when my family moved to Dallas when I was 15," recalled Pinto, 69. "Now it's a city of 1.5 million!"

In 2000, Pinto moved to Philipstown, where he still lives, and a year later opened the Maya Café in Perc's Plaza (now Philipstown Plaza) on Route 9. "It was the best thing that happened in my life," said Pinto, who still runs into his original customers. "They told me it was the best Mexican food they had ever had."

They were also fond of his spiked "Mexican lemonade," which he provided at no charge. The café initially didn't have a liquor license, but a wine store next door made it easy to bring your own. The staff consisted of Pinto and a friend.

In 2005, he moved the restaurant up Route 9 to Fishkill, where he purchased Moog's Farm Restaurant. Steve Carlson, a Philipstown contractor, renovated the building. It was a significant expansion. At Perc's Plaza, the cafe served 30 to 35 people. In Fishkill, Pinto could seat up to 140.

Pinto learned to cook in his mother's kitchen in Mexico and from his grandmother, who prepared meals for the employees at the family bakery and grocery. "My grandfather was the best baker in Merida," Pinto said. "He made everything by hand and supplied 40 stores."

As a high school junior in Dallas, Pinto worked as a dishwasher in a Mexican restaurant. As he took on more duties, he became known as "the king of nachos."

In 1986 Pinto met his wife, Joni, while working at a hotel in Cancun. The Buffalo native spoke no Spanish, but the two operated a stall at a Cancun market, where they sold tacos, and Pinto served his favorite recipe, cochinita pibil. "It's a typical Yucatan dish," he said. After marinating a pig with sour orange for a day and adding spices, it's wrapped in banana leaves, buried in a charcoal pit and roasted for several hours.

Pinto said he has kept his café menu "pretty authentic," but he didn't use much oil and included plenty of vegetables. He traveled to Mexico regularly to purchase about 90 pounds of spices per trip. "You can get the same spices here, but the quality isn't the same," he said.

He still enjoys cooking and creating dishes. One of his Saturday night favorites has been salmon and avocado stuffed with shrimp, surrounded by fruit.

Pinto operated a Maya Café in Beacon for a year in 2006. He ran a Wappingers Falls location for 15 years until it closed in 2025.

Last month, Pinto sold the Fishkill restaurant to the Van Wyck Restaurant Group. "I'm at a point in my life where I want to visit my daughter and grandchildren in Dallas more," he said. "Joni retired 10 years ago, and I want to travel with her."

Pinto said he had his children and grandchildren in mind when he kept a small piece of the business as part of the sale. He will continue to be a presence at the café for a while, but the 60-hour workweeks are over.