Vasquez Hacienda

Feb. 1, 2009

Many restaurateurs would tell you that it takes a family—not just any family, but a tight-knit family—to run a successful restaurant. Al and Elaine Vasquez’ Vasquez Hacienda is a case in point. They will celebrate the restaurant’s 35-year anniversary in September.
“I love the people—it’s a family thing,” says Elaine. “The kids who return to work summer after summer keep me young. They come back to see me with their kids—now I’m on to the third generation! I grew up in the restaurant business. My parents came here in 1948. They owned the Rainbow Gardens (where Pearl’s is now)—they were there 25 years. The circle goes on and on.”
“I have nine brothers and six sisters,” says Al. “They have all worked here off and on. My sister, Clelia Bolton, has been here since day one. My wife, Elaine, and Clelia run the kitchen. My sister-in-law, Mary Vasquez, waits tables. Our kids (Jennifer, Al Jr. and Nick) were brought up here. They have done it all: cooked, bartended, you name it they can do it. Nick does the entertainment on Friday and Saturday and Al Jr. sings. Al Jr. has a landscaping company so he mows the grass and snowplows for us.”

ELK RAPIDS DESTINATION
Residents or visitors know the unique, cream adobe-style building, which houses the restaurant on U.S. 31 North, just south of Elk Rapids. “We bought this building in 1974,” says Al. “We had been doing Mexican, Polish and pizza takeout in Elk Rapids. It was called The Taco Hut. I was still doing tool and die. I came in here one time and made an offer and they took it. My wife was pregnant with our youngest son, Nick at the time!”
Vasquez Hacienda became larger over time. “The place needed work so we upgraded as we went,” says Al. “In 1976, we built a new addition, tore out walls and ceilings and put in new windows. Every so many years we do something: new heating, cooling and bathrooms. Five or six years ago we added a bigger kitchen. In 2007, we enlarged the bar (made with white ash from Vasquez’ property) and switched it to the large dining room.”
Vasquez and his family originally came to Northern Michigan from Brownsville, Texas as migrant workers. “My first job was right across the street picking cherries,” says Al. “The family that owns the farm is still there. They come into the restaurant all the time.”
At 18, Al decided to stay in Northern Michigan so the entire family stayed. “My mother said, ‘If one-a stay, everybody stay,’” says Al. “My mom was a strong woman. She was Italian. My dad was Mexican-American. He spent five years in Europe during WWII and met my mother in Naples. That’s where I was born. When she came here she learned how to cook Mexican food.
“Our menu evolved from the foods we ate in Texas, other border towns and Matamoros, Mexico, where my father was from,” says Al. “I wanted to do Italian food, but we wanted to be unique so we decided to do Mexican. We were the first in the area.”
“I learned how to cook Mexican food from Al’s family,” says Elaine. “I’m 99 percent Polish. When we opened you couldn’t even buy tortillas. Clelia and I made all our own. My mother and her friend would light up the griddle and Clelia and I would race each other with rolling them while the other two cooked them. Al and I went to Texas a few years after we opened the restaurant and his aunt spent two days teaching me how to make tamales.”

MOST POPULAR
According to Clelia, the most popular dishes are the burritos; Wet and Dry—Salad, Meat and Salad, Chicken and Salad (ranging from $5.95 to $11.95) and Special Burritos: Steak, Marinated Chicken, Fresh Vegetable, Machaca (shredded) Beef or Carnita with pork and green chiles ($11.99).
“When we started,” says Elaine, “the menu was 10 percent Mexican and 90 percent American food. Now it’s the reverse.” The menu overflows with many choices: quesadillas ($8.95), salads like Southwest salad ($10.49), fresh made guacamole ($7.95), six fajitas ($14.99 to $17.99), Spanish rice, beef tamales and chimichangas, eight sandwiches like Texas chili burger and the Monterey Club, a half sandwich and soup special ($5.99), huevos con chorizo and Mexican-style fried chicken with cherry jalapeño glaze.
“We’re simple people,” says Clelia, “we don’t have big chefs. If one of our cooks wants to make something they made at home, we tell them yes, but the clientele have the last say. Elaine is a sweetheart so people have been here a long time. We all get along.”
“As a restaurant run by family, we’re a dying breed,” says Elaine. “No one wants to work this hard. As my sister-in-law, Clelia, says, ‘we’re in this until the end.’ I’ve been in that kitchen all my life. I must be crazy because I still like it.”
Vasquez Hacienda, 11324 US 31 South, Elk Rapids, ph. (231) 264-5892. Winter hours: Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. until 10 p.m., Saturday 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. and closed on Sunday