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Mexican Evolution Benefits Customers

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By LENORA LAKE, Tribune correspondent

Published: January 12, 2008

UNIVERSITY AREA - A family's dream of a restaurant has come true with the opening of Malena's Mexican Restaurant.

Now, at least one family member envisions more restaurants. Daniel and Maria Mendoza of Temple Terrace and three of their grown children are operating the month-old restaurant on Fletcher Avenue with Maria Mendoza as the chief cook.
Daughter Jessica Lugo, 26, of New Tampa, is the manager and said she had to be the one to get the business up and running because her parents don't speak English. "Everything was my responsibility: the license people, the permits, the paperwork," Lugo said.

Daniel and Maria Mendoza and their five children came from Mexico almost 10 years ago. The couple owned a restaurant there but moved to the United States for better wages. Here, Daniel Mendoza, now 55, worked in construction and his wife cleaned houses.

About four years ago, the Mendozas opened a lunch wagon at 138th Avenue and 20th Street, serving tacos, burritos and other items on weekends. They also received zoning approval to build a restaurant at the site.

Building was too expensive, Lugo said, so the family spent about $80,000 to rent space in a new plaza at 2320 E. Fletcher Ave. and install restaurant equipment, tables and chairs. The 1,400-square-foot, 45-seat Malena's is painted bright blue and orange with Mexican sun symbols, a multicolored blanket and a sombrero as decor. Dine-in service and takeout is offered.

"Malena" is a combination of Lugo's mother's names: Maria Elena. "My father always called her Malena because it was easier," Lugo said.

The restaurant menu, chosen by Maria Mendoza, 49, features traditional Mexican food: burritos, tacos, tamales, tostadas, soups and tortas (Mexican sandwiches). Most dishes use beef, chicken, pork or lamb. Specialty cuts, including beef tongue, pork belly and cow's head meat, are available.
Menu prices range from less than $2 to about $11.

"Mom wanted to have real Mexican, not like Tex-Mex," Lugo said, adding that one difference is the spices used.

"Also, American people love sour cream, and we don't use it in Mexico."

A signature item of the new restaurant is a Mexican sauce called pico de gallo. It is a blend of tomatoes, cabbage, onions, cilantro, peppers and lemon juice. Each meal is made fresh when ordered, Lugo said.

On a recent Thursday, James Watson and Eve Hanna visited on their lunch hour from the James A. Haley VA Medical Center.

"We came here on Monday prior and it was so good we decided to come back," said Watson, a Lutz resident.

They ordered plates of tamales, gorditas, and rice and beans to share. The tamales, which came wrapped in corn husks, were a repeat from their first visit. "They were the best tamales, and I'm, like, a tamale connoisseur," said Hanna of Westchase.

University of South Florida student Ashton Parker picked up steak burritos recently. He had been getting meals from the family's lunch truck for a couple of years.

"I've been waiting for this a restaurant. Everything is very good," said Parker, who said he grew up eating such foods because his mother is Mexican and his father is Colombian.

Lugo said she and two brothers are learning all they can about the restaurant business. (Their two other sisters are not involved in the business.) Their parents want to retire at the end of the year and return to Mexico to be close to Lugo's grandparents.

Lugo said she wants to become a U.S. citizen, build a restaurant on the 20th street lot and open others across the area. "I want to keep going that dream to build the restaurant and take it over," Lugo said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Malena's Mexican Restaurant

WHERE: 2320 E. Fletcher Ave.

WHEN: Opens at 9 a.m. every day; closes at 8 p.m. Sunday, 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday

INFORMATION: Call (813) 977-6808.

Correspondent Lenora Lake can be reached at (813) 865-4851 or llake@tampatrib.com.

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