When did La Paloma Norte open?
We opened officially for business for the championship game in January that Texas played. We didn’t even have a menu yet, I just had a few folks who worked with me from before, and I gave them a few recipes from my father’s old restaurant, which was called Mitla. I have the old sign and the cash register that we used at the old restaurant on Jefferson Street, but before we opened, we made sure we had worked out a few kinks. You have to work out the mechanics and logistics of how the kitchen works. That took about three months. What happened throughout those three months? We listened to people. We really wanted to be a community restaurant that caters to San Antonio neighborhoods. People would come in asking us about what went into the rice and beans. That was refreshing for me because my whole philosophy has always been one of “What can I do for you today.” I love to oblige. My father was like that. My dad died about five years ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed my work environment when my
