Cantina La Campana can be a bit hard to find – and it’s by design. The bar is tucked in the back of Mercado Weslaco. A customer has to walk a hallway of mini-stores featuring Mexican merchandise to reach the downtown cantina. Get a feel for the Mercado before getting to the bar in the back. “It adds a mystique about our place,” said Steve Valdez, who owns La Campana…
Three students representing the Hospitality and Tourism Management Program at the UTRGV Robert C. Vackar College of Business & Entrepreneurship earned first place at the Restaurant Finance and Development Conference Nov. 8-10 in Las Vegas, Nev. The team of Andrea Garza, Paulina Martinez and Abelardo Villarreal earned first place in the “Restaurant of the Future” competition. Their restaurant concept, “Wonder,” was an immersive, multisensory culinary experience using augmented and virtual reality technology. “Dining…
Whiskey is an acquired taste. That’s how Martin Cavazos puts it and he should know. He is one of the owners of the 1929 Whiskey Tavern in Brownsville. It is, Cavazos said, only one of two such establishments south of San Antonio that’s exclusive to whiskeys and its many varieties. The tavern is located across the street from Market Square, the historic center of Brownsville. The building whose bell tower…
George Perez owns an iconic Brownsville restaurant whose name is ingrained into the city it has served for nearly 90 years. Mario Dominguez Jr. makes barbecue so renowned that it made Texas Monthly’s Top 50 for being among the best in the Lone Star State. And yet, in both cases, neither restaurant owner assumed their Valley businesses would survive the seismic disruptions of 2020. Adjustments had to be made quickly…
Looking at Nana’s Taqueria today with its multicolored courtyard, well-stocked gift shop and cozy restaurant filled with patrons, you would never guess how it all got started. Eight tables in a small room, a husband-and-wife team, one employee and an immigrant family were struggling to find their footing in a new country. It’s a story that has taken 12 years to build – and it’s still going strong. Roxanna Trevino…
On Aug. 16, Marcos Silva, a college counselor for IDEA Public Schools, posted a note about his brother on Facebook. “My brother is an electrician/builder by trade,’’ he wrote. “After building restaurants across Texas and Oklahoma for others, he threw in his bid and made himself one.” It’s Wing Zone Grill & Tap, which Marcos said “represents a lot more than a wing place.” “It’s the efforts, sacrifice and fight…
Walk into Karma Coffee & Books in South Padre Island and it’s immediately a place where you want to sit and stay a while. There’s a wide variety of coffee-based drinks to go with breakfast and lunch sandwiches – and of course books. It’s an ideal place to take a break from the beach sun and surf. The way that Will Everett sees it is that his new coffee and…
Eduardo Casas knew he was doing more than repurposing an old building into a new restaurant when he opened SMOKE: Texas BBQ & Watering Hole. SMOKE BBQ would be housed where the Rainbo Bakery held forth on Harrison Avenue in Harlingen. Rainbo was a mainstay Harlingen business for over seven decades. Memories run long in the city when it comes to the iconic bakery. “My idea in opening here was…
Jesus Bojorquez had a decision to make in moving toward a degree in biomedical science. Should he continue on a career path toward pharmacy school as he planned after concluding a stint in the U.S. Army? There was a new pursuit that had caught the Brownsville native’s fancy. It was becoming more than a hobby. Bojorquez was intrigued with the notion of being a chocolatier. He had more than dabbled…
It’s a sun-splashed Saturday at Southern Roots Flower Market and Stephanie Brantley is all smiles while working with her crew in a horse trailer-turned-mobile coffee bar. Her happiness matches the sunshine. The self-described people person welcomes customers to the Match Made Coffee bar, an Edinburg-based business. Match Made goes wherever events call for brews and teas to be made by an experienced barista with a Starbucks background who has struck…