By JESSE DAVIS
It’s a little taste of Mexico in Goshen’s own backyard.
The recently opened Taqueria San Jose, located along Madison Street next door to Penguin Point, offers both the traditional Americanized Mexican fare as well as options not often available outside of the myriad taco stands located throughout Mexican towns. Indeed, it is the restaurant’s main drawing point.
“Everybody really likes the food. We’ve had a lot of good comments,” restaurant manager Mayra Garcia said.
The business is the fifth opened by Garcia’s family, including another restaurant and three grocery stores. According to Garcia, this restaurant was meant to bring cultures together.
“We wanted to attract both Mexican and American clients,” she said. “We have your basic steak, chicken and marinated pork that Americans want, but we also have other food. For example, Mexicans can’t go to Taco Bell and get a tripe taco.”
Tripe tacos, a popular food in Mexico available at most taco stands, are made with stomach meat. The restaurant’s menu also includes fish tacos and tongue tacos, as well as menudo, a soup made with tripe. Picky eaters need not be afraid, however, as they also offer standard tacos, burritos, quesadillas and nachos.
“We may change things up based on feedback,” Garcia said. She noted that when the restaurant started, “we didn’t have shrimp cocktail or rice,” two items now on the menu.
She said the main goal at the restaurant was to go for fast, authentic Mexican food. In that, the owners have succeeded, with their tacos being the favored dish of customers. The hearty little packages have an extra appeal on Mondays and Wednesdays, when they are only $1 each.
Taqueria San Jose also houses a small bakery. There, customers can find an array of breads and cakes, including the tres leches (“three milk”) cake, a sponge cake soaked in evaporated milk, condensed milk and heavy cream.
Restaurant staffers also make the bread for their tortas, a Mexican sandwich they make with ham, steak, chicken or marinated pork, as well as their special torta Cubana and torta Hawaiana.
For Garcia, the restaurant is an entrance into management after several years in the food service industry. In eight years, she worked at a Dairy Queen, Applebee’s, Olive Garden and another Mexican restaurant in New Orleans.
“I like it a lot more,” she said of her current position. “I can make the decisions. If I see a problem, I can be the one to change it.”
The business is owned by her father, Jose, whom she said works more on the grocery end. The fact that the family owns several grocery stores also enhances their restaurants, Garcia said, as they have no problems procuring the traditional ingredients used in several of their dishes.
So far, Garcia is pleased with the amount of business that’s been received.
“I think it’s going pretty well,” she said. “I’ve noticed with a lot of Mexican restaurants is they’re aimed at Americans or Mexicans. We have more of a mix here, and it’s working out for us.”
