Southern Maryland’s White Sauce Debate: Love It, Hate It Or Never Tried It?

SOUTHERN MARYLAND — Before dipping a chip into the little bowl of white sauce sitting beside the salsa, it is worth knowing that it may not be white queso at all.

For diners who did not grow up with it, the cold, creamy dip can be easy to mistake for queso or even ranch. But in parts of Virginia and Southern Maryland, it is a familiar regional favorite known as white sauce, white salsa or salsa blanca.

Its history stretches back decades, and its popularity can vary dramatically from one community to the next.

That difference became especially clear in Southern Maryland, where some restaurants serve it regularly while others do not offer it at all.

First Things First: It Is Not Queso

The sauce may be called white sauce, white salsa, salsa blanca, Virginia white sauce or simply white dip, depending on the restaurant.

Traditional Virginia-style white sauce is served cold and usually starts with a mayonnaise-style base, then gets its flavor from seasonings such as garlic, oregano, cumin and red pepper. Recipes vary, so one version may be sweeter, another spicier and another more tangy.

Queso blanco is something entirely different.

Queso is served warm and is cheese-based. White sauce is cold, smooth and closer in consistency to a creamy dressing.

The easiest way to tell the difference is right at the table: If it is warm, gooey and stretches when you pull away your chip, it is probably queso. If it is cold and creamy, you may have found the regional white sauce.

Its History Leads Back To Virginia

The Southern Foodways Alliance traces much of the sauce’s popularity to El Toro, a now-closed Mexican restaurant in Norfolk that began serving a version in the 1970s, first as a salad dressing and later as a dip for tortilla chips. While the exact origin is still debated, El Toro is widely credited with popularizing the white sauce tradition that spread throughout Hampton Roads.

The history has been preserved in more than just food writing. Vintage El Toro white sauce recipes continue to circulate online, including an old recipe clipping shared in the Facebook group “Great Memories Of Virginia Beach & Norfolk” and later found by The BayNet through Pinterest. The sauce even has its own Wikipedia entry under “White sauce (Virginia),”.

The sauce was reportedly served as a salad dressing before customers began dipping tortilla chips into it. Eventually, the dipping caught on.

The recipe clipping lists Miracle Whip, milk, crushed red pepper, cumin, garlic powder and dried oregano, with instructions to let the mixture sit for at least two days before serving it cold with chips.

As restaurant owners and employees moved among Mexican restaurants in southeastern Virginia, different versions of the sauce spread throughout Hampton Roads and beyond.

Eventually, that regional food tradition traveled north into parts of Maryland.

That helps explain why someone who grew up around southeastern Virginia may consider white sauce a normal part of chips and salsa, while someone from another part of the country may have never heard of it — and may assume it is queso when that little white bowl first hits the table.

So, How Common Is It In Southern Maryland?

That question led The BayNet to start calling restaurants across Southern Maryland.

In Charles County, the search came up empty.

The BayNet contacted numerous Mexican restaurants in the county and specifically asked about the cold, creamy white sauce — not queso. None of the restaurants contacted said they currently serve it.

One, however, had tried.

Marcos Magaña, whose family operates La Tolteca in La Plata, told The BayNet the restaurant offered white sauce years ago, but it never became popular enough with customers to remain on the menu.

The sauce may be gone, but La Tolteca has been serving Mexican food in Maryland for more than 20 years and continues to offer homemade corn chips, meats, seafood, margaritas and other Mexican favorites.

In Leonardtown, It Is A Completely Different Story

At Salsa’s Mexican Café in Leonardtown, however, the response was very different. The restaurant serves salsa blanca for an additional charge, and a staff member told The BayNet that about 90% of tables order it.

That stood in sharp contrast to Charles County, where The BayNet contacted numerous Mexican restaurants and did not find one currently serving the traditional cold white sauce.

The difference shows how localized the tradition can be. In one part of Southern Maryland, the sauce is difficult to find. Just farther south, it is ordered at nearly every table.

That regional divide may come down to familiarity. Diners who grew up with white sauce often know exactly what they are looking for, while others may have never encountered it at all. Restaurants, in turn, tend to respond to what their customers know and want.

Where To Find White Sauce In Southern Maryland

The BayNet has so far identified several Southern Maryland restaurants where diners can find the regional sauce.

Now We Want To Hear From You

White sauce may be a must-have for some Southern Maryland diners and a complete mystery to others — and if you have spent any time around people who love it, you probably already know opinions can get strong.

So where do you stand?

Do you love it? Hate it? Prefer queso? Or have you never tried it at all?

Take our poll and let us know.

And if you know a Southern Maryland restaurant serving the cold, creamy white sauce, send The BayNet the restaurant name and location so we can keep building the list.

The post Southern Maryland’s White Sauce Debate: Love It, Hate It Or Never Tried It? appeared first on The BayNet.