Troy, MI — This is a wonderful follow-up story that I’ve been excited to share! I don’t get to catch up with the chefs and restauranteurs I’ve profiled as often as I’d like, so when I learned that one of my early features had achieved another culinary milestone in her career, I had to swing by and check out Maria Aldana’s latest endeavor: La Niña Churrería.
In May of 2023, I first profiled Maria and her exceptional Mexican cuisine at her restaurant, Aldana’s, in Troy. I met Maria through a guest segment involving food at my job and was blown away by the quality and authenticity of Maria’s cooking, which prominently featured dishes from the Jalisco and Yucatán regions. I visited Maria’s restaurant with my Foodie-At-Arms, Juan, and we enjoyed several spectacular and flavorful dishes, including the best cochinita pibil I’ve had outside of Phoenix.
RELATED: Experience flavors and memories of Mexico through Maria Aldana’s cooking
Over the past year, I knew that Maria was developing a new passion project solely focusing on churros, a beloved sweet fried snack. This popular fried dough treat comes from Spanish and Portuguese cuisine and is typically made with choux pastry dough, dipped in piping hot oil to fry, and has an iconic closed star tip perimeter or similar shape. Varying culinary styles branch off from here, finishing the churros by coating and rolling them in sugar or cinnamon and sometimes even filling them with a caramel or chocolate sauce. Often, churros come served with these sauces on the side.
Maria explained to me back when she first was putting the concepts together for La Niña that she planned to buy and utilize the space right next to her restaurant at the northeast corner of Maple Road and Coolidge Highway. She wanted to open Metro Detroit’s first-ever churrería, an establishment offering a wide variety of churros, similar to a taquería, which specializes in tacos. It’s worth noting several popular Mexican bakeries around Detroit offer churros, among other various baked goods, but having a place that solely specializes in churros is always a cause worth celebrating for those with a sweet tooth!
Throughout my foodie research, I could only find one other established churrería in the state of Michigan. Perhaps a dash of coincidental luck for this CMU alumni; it’s located in the heart of Mount Pleasant! While I may have left the halls of Central Michigan University nearly a decade ago (Fire Up!), now I have a new mission for my next visit to my old collegiate stomping grounds: check out Golden Churro!
RELATED: Tienda Mexicana in Madison Heights is a great spot for burritos and tacos!
Fast forward several months, and an Instagram follower shared a social media post by La Niña Churrería with me on Instagram sometime in the middle of September. Upon realizing Maria had launched her churro establishment and that we were only a couple of days into Hispanic Heritage Month at the time, I quickly called up Maria to see if she’d like to come into my station for a guest segment to highlight the accomplishments of a local small business owner during such an important month of recognition!
Before the segment, I visited La Niña Churrería to gather video and photo elements for the on-air segment and the highlight video above for this blog post. I caught up with Maria for a few minutes and learned how the last few months had gone with preparations and the launch for La Niña Churrería. Come to find out, Maria had sold her restaurant, Aldana’s, to another family (who is keeping things 100 and hasn’t changed a thing at the restaurant) and is entertaining the idea of now franchising her churro business into a churro empire across Metro Detroit!
Maria explained the intricate process of making churros as I watched one of her employees skillfully lower a churro with tongs into a massive bowl of heated oil. I could hear the exterior of the churro crisping as it visually goldened within seconds. The employee rolled the churro in a sugar and cinnamon blend, then sprinkled and coated the churro with the mixture as well. The churros being prepared were traditional and not filled, but I later saw some churro-filling action involving chocolate, caramel, and custard.
I remember Maria telling me when I first interviewed her that cooking and food, particularly things like churros, are near and dear to her heart because of the heartfelt memories and connections they invoke. Food has that power that transcends any background and interlocks everyone through nostalgic memories from our youth or shared experiences. Just walking into La Niña Churrería, the heavenly sweet scents sent me into a serene state of genuine joy. After witnessing such tantalizing and delicious-looking churros being made, my stomach prompted me to order some… you know, to conduct some pre-segment research!
I looked at the descriptions and various toppings of all the different churro options on the menu, captivated by a few of the signatures like the Tiramisu, Fresas con Crema, Pistachio Raspberry, S’mores, and Mango Habanero. I decided to order the Pistachio Raspberry and Churrilocos. The Churrería was quite busy since it was lunchtime, so I walked around to take more interior videos and check out the space. I was elated to discover that on top of all the exciting churro options, La Niña Churrería also serves gelato, frozen yogurt, fruit bowls, coffee, and teas!
I watched as Maria’s staff worked like clockwork in perfect harmony to dish out churro after churro. The precision and craftwork were exceptional, with the finished products looking like each belonged on display to be appreciated. For one of my churros, the Churrilocos, I went with Maria’s suggestions of getting it filled with caramel and topped with strawberries and raspberries.
You can select from over two dozen toppings to add to your churro, gelato, yogurt, or fruit bowl orders. For all the different ways you can mix and match the toppings or even gelato with a churro via a Canastita (churro bowl), I have to admit it’s hard not to want to come back to La Niña Churrería weekly just to explore the menu and different sweet treat combos.
After a few minutes, an employee delivered my order to my table, and almost immediately, my mouth started to salivate. I maintained my hunger composure as best I could as I quickly snapped several photos and videos of the delectable churros before me. After the longest thirty seconds of my life, I snatched up a fork and knife to saw off a two-inch chunk from the Pistachio Raspberry and shoveled it into my mouth.
The rush of sugar and gooey pistachio buttercream lit my tastebuds up like a Christmas tree, with the crumbs and raspberries providing that electric bite on top of the creamy topping and lecherita filling. This churro had the sweet factor down, with the nutty and earthy elements from the pistachio contributions. The slight sweetness from the pistachio was ideal for pairing with a churro and matched well with the sweet and tart raspberry.
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The Churrilocos was so delicious and a visual masterpiece in presentation. The dark chocolate sauce topping was so darn good, and the kickass chocolate and strawberry combo added to the overall flavor profile. It’s wild how this snack has so many awesome contributions to enjoy before even getting down to the churro itself. The hardened but sweet exterior had an excellent golden crisp, yielding a warm, soft, and doughy interior saturated by caramel filling. I had to force myself only to enjoy a few bites of each churro as I try to remain somewhat disciplined with my diet for weightlifting… or at least until my next cheat day!
It was hard to say which was the best between the two churros I ordered. Both were so fantastic they blew my already high expectations out of the water. I had enjoyed Maria’s traditional churros before, but these signatures were absolutely next level. I ordered a box of Churro Bites and other specialties to go so that I could take a bunch to my work, where I was heading next, to share with my colleagues and get them hype for the segment.
The following day, Maria arrived at my station, and we recorded the segment after one of our newscasts. Maria did an excellent job and presented her churros and story very well as she continues to work hard and share a part of her culture and memories with Metro Detroit.
If you’re in the mood for something sweet or want to try something new and different, consider checking out La Niña Churrería in Troy for a sensational snack or bite for any time of the day. Keep an eye on the churrería’s social media pages for updates on new menu items or future specials and announcements!
For more information about La Niña Churrería or to peruse the menu, click here.
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