La Monarca’s First Restaurant In Waitsburg

WAITSBURG - Any Mexican food lover in the Walla Walla area knows the food the Reyes family puts out: authentic yet innovative Mexican fare.

They may have never heard of Jose Reyes or his wife, Maria Espinoza, but the name of their Taco Wagons, La Monarca, will ring a bell.

The wagons on Isaacs at East Gate and on Rose downtown, have been popular in Walla Walla for years, garnering the family Best Of The Best recognition under the Taco Wagon category for years, trading places with El Taco Loco. This year, La Monarca was the winner again.

"This taco truck offers hands down the best Mexican food in the area, and can vie for the title of best Mexican food in town," one fan on the Yelp blog opines.

" If you're feeling adventurous, try a Pambazo," a blogger on the website "Urban Spoon" suggests. "They're "sandwiches" covered in red sauce. Messy, but very good."

To be adventurous and enjoy the quality Mexican eats and treats Walla Walla fans have been raving about, Waitsburg residents don't have to leave town anymore. They don't even have to walk up to a taco wagon. All it takes is walk through the door at the former Old El Paso establishment and the Reyes' cuisine will be waiting for them.

On Aug. 14, Reyes bought the business in the old Carmen Deli space, an operation that has now changed hands twice since it became a Mexican restaurant.

"Most Mexican restaurants should really be considered Mexican American," Jose Reyes said. "This is more authentic Mexican cuisine. I want to offer something from each of the Mexican states here."

And, Reyes wants to make the dishes that blend local or international ingredients with original Mexican menu items, such as burritos using Walla Walla sweet onions, or the torta Francesca, which is almost like a Mexican "Chicken Cordon Blue."

The Reyes family, which hasn't owned a restaurant before, may face the initial challenge of overcoming local disappointment with the previous owners' food quality and consistency. But preliminary reviews, even before the new owners' vision for the space and menu have been fully implemented, are good. And, Monarca's Walla Walla reputation precedes it.

The first sign that the restaurant has new owners has already appeared in the form of a colorful butterfly, Monarca's logo. The word means "monarch" in Spanish and comes from the butterfl ies for which the Reyes' ancestral hometown in the state of Michoacan is well known.

Monarchs are famous for their lengthy annual migration and the Reyes' village of Jungapeo is one of the communities that participates in the Festival de la Mariposa Monarca every February when the butterflies return to Mexico to form winter colonies.

Reyes himself got his start as a cook at age 16, when he attended a military academy in Mexico City for some time and was asked by the captain who headed the school to help cook for his guests and later at a restaurant the officer owned.

After moving to the Walla Walla area in the 1990s and working onion, asparagus and apple harvests in the region for a while, a friend offered him a taco wagon for sale. In about 2000, Reyes and Espinoza were cooking inside it and quickly cementing their reputation as a oneof a-kind eatery.

Observers of the growing Waitsburg food scene reckon Reyes' approach will fit in well with the town's overall culinary direction, attempting to offer the kinds of menus you can't find on strip malls.

He hopes at least some of his Walla Walla fans will follow him to Waitsburg, particularly since he will be promoting the new Monarca location through the two taco wagons. But he welcomes serving a new market in Waitsburg, because there aren't as many Hispanic customers with too many preconceived notions of what certain dishes should taste like .

La Monarca will be open seven days a week, offer breakfast, lunch and dinner, and provide free pool and sports games on television. The hours and menu have yet to be fully developed, the new owner said.