A ‘Boutique Steakhouse’ ... And Then Some: La Porteña Is Opened by the Owners of Quahogs Seafood Shack
Chef Lucas Manteca and his wife Deanna Ebner met years ago when he was working in Costa Rica and she was also working while vacationing there.
They kept in touch and saw each other frequently as their relationship blossomed. The pair lived in New York, Miami, and Europe before finally settling at the Jersey Shore, where they currently reside.
While they live in Cape May Court House with their teenage daughter Catalina, the pair have run several popular restaurants in Stone Harbor, including the recently opened La Porteña, a “boutique steakhouse.” They also own the popular Quahog’s Seafood Shack in Stone Harbor that opened in 2008.
Their new baby opened over the Memorial Day weekend.
“The main thing, it’s kind of based around a wood-burning grill,” Manteca, a native of Argentina, says of the new project. “We do a lot of grilling in Argentina. It’s almost like a boutique steakhouse, but we go beyond that. We work with farms in the area. We kind of follow what is coming up with vegetables and fruit within season. The same with fish and shellfish.”
The restaurant, located at 9426 Third Ave. (the previous location of Venezia and prior to that the beloved Marabella’s Family Restaurant), features local shellfish and fish, and utilizes a farm in South Jersey to source some of its beef and pork.
“Then as well, I bring products like pork from Spain, beef from Argentina and Uruguay,” says Manteca, who earned a prestigious James Beard nomination for Best Chef/Mid-Atlantic Region in 2014. “I try to offer something different, not the same old same old when it comes to proteins.”
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Manteca left Buenos Aires around the time he graduated from high school. He wanted to get out and see what the world had to offer. His travels took him through South and Central America, and he landed in Costa Rica, where he opened his first restaurant when he was about 20.
“My wife was there surfing on vacation and she was working next door to where I had my restaurant,” he recalls.
“We met there and spent some time in Costa Rica together. She was kind of going back and forth between the States and Costa Rica and then came back and then we decided to come back to the States, kind of for a change.”
The pair, who are both beach bums, stayed in Costa Rica for a while and eventually opened a bakery and a pizza restaurant there, but they longed for change and more excitement in their lives.
The change took them to Miami, and then the Big Apple, where he attended The French Culinary Institute. After that, they traveled some more, and he worked abroad in Europe. He also ended up working in New York City at multiple places where he got training and more experience.
“When it came time to see what’s next, we decided the shore was a good idea as Deanna was from here, she grew up in Avalon,” he says. “We found our first restaurant on 83rd and Third, and we opened Sea Salt, a very small BYOB about 20-some years ago.”
WHAT’S ON THE MENU?
Fast-forward to 2025.
Manteca says they’re not really heavy on pastas at their new spot, although house-made pasta is available.
There is a four-course pre-fixe menu that changes weekly, offered for $90 per person.
La Porteña, a BYOB restaurant, has a menu that features such things as pork ribs, New York strip, catch of the day, beef empanadas, and more.
“The menu changes pretty much every week with beef or pasta, we change the fish of the day, the shellfish, the vegetables,” Manteca adds. “I would say 80% of the menu changes.”
The main course format, he says, is kind of à la carte. It’s included on the pre-fixe menu with opportunities for the customers to make upgrades.
“A bigger steak or a higher-end quality of steak or steak for two,” he says. “The à la carte, your main course, it’s almost like six courses. The first four courses, they kind of get to the table, you choose your main course, it varies from beef, fish, shellfish, pasta, so it gives a little bit of freedom for the guests to choose what they feel like eating.”
FAMILY AFFAIR
Their reception has been “amazing” in Stone Harbor with their new project, he adds. He and his wife worked on it a lot over the winter to get it ready.
He says they pretty much did everything from scratch, taking down walls, putting walls back up. He re-did the entire kitchen and made it open.
Manteca and Ebner, who is an artist and designer, also own Bread + Butter Hospitality Group, which has had multiple restaurant concepts or eateries at the shore over the years, including The Red Store in Cape May Point and tacoshop in Cape May Court House – both now closed – among other places.
Now they have this new venture.
“The place has a lot of character and charm,” Manteca says. “I think a combination of, I guess people enjoy the food, that’s what they say. A combination of good food, good atmosphere. My wife, she’s a great host as well. She runs the front of the house. People just want to go, eat, hang out. The energy’s been great.”
Their daughter, who turns 17 soon, also works in the kitchen and brings the food out to the tables as well. They love working with their daughter. Manteca said they’ve worked together in the past as well.
He feels that their latest venture is kind of he and his wife’s “retirement project and kind of looking for something exciting to do, getting back to the business on our own terms. It’s been great. My daughter is older now, so she’s loving the job. We all get along working together. It’s really special.”
Always on the go and looking to create, Manteca says their new restaurant keeps them very busy and, of course, is extra income for their family as well.
It’s much different than Quahog’s, which he calls “our bread and butter. We have our bread and butter, and this is more of our creative space.”
You can count on the busy and active pair to keep creating, that’s for sure.