MANKATO — When Luis Monterrubio and his wife Erika Ramirez bought LaBamba Mexican Taco House, 501 South Front Street, in 2020, there were four Hispanic restaurants in Mankato. Since then, that number has climbed to nine.
“That’s not including the fast-food restaurants like Taco Bell and Chipotle,” Monterrubio said. “Nine restaurants serving authentic Mexican food is a lot of competition.”
A goal from the start for the couple has been to stand out from that competition by serving excellent food at reasonable prices.
Monterrubio and Ramirez bought LaBamba Mexican Taco House from its previous owner and decided to take things slowly at first. They kept the same menu, but began tweaking it to match the recipes they wanted to serve. They also worked on remodeling the space, taking their time which was something they had in abundance since the year the couple opened their restaurant, something else happened — the pandemic.
“It was very hard at the beginning. We had to deal with a lot of things going on at once. The shutdown, wearing masks, finding people to work here. It was difficult,” Monterrubio said.
The restaurant relied on orders to go during that period and slowly built up a steady clientele.
One of the things that attracted Monterrubio and Ramirez was the restaurant’s location. Situated on the corner of South Front Street and East Cherry Street, the area is the center of downtown’s restaurant district. Not only college students gravitate to Front Street, but visitors from out of town and people attending events at the nearby Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center flock there as well.
Minnesota State University student Ben Crockett has a friend from St. Louis who insists on eating at LaBamba whenever he visits Mankato. “We have to go there at least four times when my friend visits,” Crockett said. “He won’t eat anywhere else.”
That kind of loyalty has kept the restaurant going and enabled Monterrubio and Ramirez to purchase Za’s Pizza, two doors down the street at 505 South Front Street, this past spring. Monterrubio said that running two restaurants keeps him busy in spite of the somewhat sluggish economy. Having a major reconstruction of Riverfront over the summer didn’t help.
“Business has been slower. Everyone on Front Street has been feeling it. We’re hoping it picks up now that Riverfront is open again,” Monterrubio said.
Between the two restaurants the couple has eight employees. Finding employees is always a challenge for anyone in the restaurant business. It was especially tough in the years immediately after the pandemic.
“That was hard. There were weeks when my wife and I each worked 80 hours. It has improved since then,” Monterrubio said.
Forrest Aydt works for the couple as a pizza chef in Za’s. He said it is a pleasure working for both of them.
“I like working for Luis because I admire his work ethic. He is always working and he works so hard. He’s also very compassionate. Sometimes late at night we’ll get customers who shouldn’t be driving. Luis doesn’t kick them out. He lets them wait inside the restaurant until their Uber ride comes to get them,” Aydt said.
LaBamba Mexican Taco House offers a varied menu with tacos being the most popular item and tamales a close second. LaBamba caters events from private parties to corporate get-togethers.
While Monterrubio and Ramirez clearly have full plates, Monterrubio has an idea that he’d like to bring to life one day.
“I think it would be nice to coach other couples who’d like to own their own restaurant. We could train them and help them see what it’s like to run your own business and to become entrepreneurs. We learned how to do this ourselves but we could help others get started. We haven’t had time to do that yet, but it’s an idea we’d like to try in the future,” Monterrubio said.
LaBamba Mexican Taco House is open Monday through Thursday, 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM and Friday through Saturday, 11:00 AM to 3:00 AM. It is closed on Sundays.
“We need a day to rest,” Monterrubio said.