Cazadores features Mexican cuisine
Josie and Enrique Banales, owners, and Fernando, chef, of Cazadores restaurant in Virginia. Photo by Jean Cole.
Josie and Enrique Banales have been working so hard the last few months preparing for the opening of their new restaurant that they haven’t had a chance to explore the new community they now call home.
Cazadores, which features authentic and Tex-Mex type Mexican cuisine, opened for business February 2 in the Thunderbird Mall in Virginia. A recent mid-morning visit to the restaurant found things hopping with half a dozen employees gearing up for the day. Everyone was speaking Spanish. Everyone was smiling.
After securing their location, the building and remodeling of the restaurant space was a four-month project. “I did all the work in here. I built all the booths, did all the walls, the floor. Everything. Me and one other. It was a lot of hours,” said Enrique, who looks around him at the brand-spanking-new Mexican-themed venue as though he still can’t believe it.
I asked Josie and Enrique the burning question: Why the Iron Range? Why Virginia? Enrique explained a cousin of his opened a restaurant in Hibbing a year ago, Senor Patron, and they thought Virginia would be a good location as well. Small towns don’t have as much competition as larger cities, and they have found smaller communities to be very welcoming to new businesses. They admit opening a restaurant in these economic times was a “leap of faith.” But they said good food at fair prices is usually a successful combination. “Customers have told us they like the food and think our prices are very good,” said Enrique.
Enrique has many years experience in the restaurant business, most recently 10 years as a manager of a restaurant in Tennessee, he said. It’s somewhat of a family affair, with uncles and cousins running restaurants in Tennessee, Indiana, and Illinois. An uncle in Indiana, Javier Ayala, is a partner in the Cazadore venture, Enrique said.
There are currently 12 employees, all with experience at other restaurants, and most from the same city, Guadalajara, in Mexico. The chef, Fernando, worked 10 years for the uncle in Indiana. “I’m from Guadalajara,” said Josie, “and so is Enrique. But we met in Chicago. It was special, to meet someone from Guadalajara in Chicago,” she said, smiling at the memory. They were married and are now building the business together. “I’m the only one [of the employee] that doesn’t have restaurant experience,” said Josie, with an “I’m doing the best I can” expression.
“We’ve worked so hard since we were married so Enrique’s dream can come true – he always wanted to have his own restaurant,” said Josie.
I asked the couple how they liked our Minnesota weather. “We’re learning how to live here,” said Josie. “Yes, we’re learning how to survive,” said Enrique.
The couple said they work all day from open to close, 7 days a week, with no time off. At the end of the day, “We just want to go home and rest. We turn off the cell phones,” said Josie.
A Grand Opening will be held soon.
