From left, Muy Salsas Co-owners Christine Martinez, Patricia Corral and Gisel Martinez along with Gisel’s 9-year-old daughter, Julia Martinez. Courtesy photo

By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com

Christine Martinez along with her sister, Gisel Martinez and mother Patricia Corral have worked to improve the Los Alamos community since they moved to town five years ago.

Christine and Gisel are involved in social work. Christine works as a Resource Specialist for JJAB and Gisel is a caseworker for the First Born Program of Los Alamos.

All three women are nourishing another side of the community, too: people’s stomachs.

For the past three years Christine, Gisel and Corral have served up traditional Mexican dishes every Friday night at Bathtub Row Brewery. They call their business Muy Salsas, which is a Mexican idiom that translates to “the best” in English.

Now, they have an opportunity to take their business to the next level – opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

In December, Muy Salsas will open at 1315 Trinity Dr., which previously housed Pasta Paradiso and other restaurants including the Hill Diner. Christine said the Fire Marshall and the state are inspecting the building. It has been vacant for two years, so it is out of code. If everything goes well with the inspections, she said the plan is to open for business either at the beginning or in the middle of December.

She added they are going to start strong by serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. The hours and days of operation are going to evolve as they decide what works best. Right now, the plan is to be open 6:30 a.m. to about 10 p.m. seven days a week. The goal is to offer a dining atmosphere similar to the Blue Window Bistro, Christine said. They are working to obtain a liquor license and hope to rent out space at the restaurant for office parties and other events.

Corral is the chef, Christine said. What she cooks is not Mexican fast food, but meals made from scratch.

This includes mole, blue corn tacos, flavored tortillas and a variety of salsas. Christine said they plan to offer meat, vegetarian and vegan dishes.

“Our main goal is to bring very traditional, cultural dishes here,” she said.

Serving food at Bathtub Row Brewery has given the three women an opportunity to test out their food and see how it agrees with people’s taste buds, Christine said. They are excited to bring what they have learned during this time to their restaurant.

“…It is bringing more food and variety to Los Alamos,” she said. “We’re happy to have three years of taste testing … we’re excited to bring another location and bring more culture to the community.”

Not only have Christine, her sister and mother built a relationship with the community for the past three years but also among themselves, Christine said.

“In a personal way we are building more… we have been through a lot and that has made our relationship strong,” she said. “We are really building customer service. We really like it when people say, ‘When I eat your food, I feel like I am home.’ We can share that family experience.”

Operating a restaurant is truly a family affair. Christine said generations of her family have operated restaurants in Mexico and the hope is to continue that in future generations. She explained she has a 9-year-old niece and the hope is to give her Muy Salsas in the future.

Being able to open a restaurant is a big milestone for them, Christine said.

“For us it’s been an accomplishment; a lot of hard work,” she said. “There’s a lot of biases toward women in the business field. (So, opening their own restaurant) is going to be a big deal … hopefully this will inspire women here to become entrepreneurs. It hasn’t been easy, but we’ve made it possible.”

As far as changes to their new location, Christine said they want to preserve the building’s history. A few cosmetic changes are being made such as light fixtures, but the building’s wooden walls and other features will remain unchanged.

“One thing we noticed is the Los Alamos community values history and we didn’t want a lot of modifications … this used to be the Sheriff’s office and we want to make sure we preserve that and honor it,” she said.

They might be satisfying people’s appetites, but Christine said they hope to use their restaurant to benefit the community in other ways, too.

“We’re really thankful to this community,” Christine said. “It’s been three years with a whole lot of effort and support from the community. Not only are we building a business out of this experience but being a part of the community as social workers, we really want this business to be a community partner in anything we can be a part of.”

She added they want to assist community efforts through fundraising, donations and anything else. Christine, Gisel and Corral are not the only ones celebrating their new business space.

Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce Director Ryn Herrmann said, “It is great to see them go into a brick-and-mortar location.”

Muy Salsas is just one of several new businesses opening in town. Herrmann pointed out that LA Bootery, 1615 Central Ave., above EXIT Realty, recently opened, as well as Long Pour, a cocktail bar, in Central Park Square, and Property Management and Repair Group (PMRG).
Plus, the Chamber and MainStreet have offered a Retail Accelerator Program, which has given three entrepreneurs the opportunity to each have a pop-up retail storefront at 174 Central Park Square. A location is being sought for a fourth business as well.

The program runs seven weeks and allows participants to de-risk the entry into local retail through interactive and educational workshops.

“It is important to offer programs like that to entrepreneurs that have an interest in doing this but need some help getting there,” Herrmann said. “It takes some of the risk out …”

She added the Retail Accelerator Program has been a success and the hope is to run it again soon. This program, along with the other new businesses in town, gives some good news to the community.

“It’s refreshing to have positive retail news to share,” Herrmann said.

A sample of the food that will be served at Muy Salsas opening soon on Trinity Drive. Courtesy photo