"Fire it up, fire it up," orders a man to the kitchen staff from the other side of the kitchen. As a natural observer, I can't help but be intrigued by the way the guy stands leaning his body against the stainless steel counter, looking through the sneeze guard, his eyes completely focused on the one plate being made, but I see his eyes darting around, as if his senses are heightened, still aware of what and who is coming in and going out. I can tell that he’s not just another kitchen staff member, he has a sense of poise about him, a sense of authority.
Later, as I wait for my own meal to arrive, I see the same guy from the corner of my eye. He stands with his arms across his chest, this time surveying every plate that leaves the kitchen, no doubt ensuring it’s of highest quality. I find myself assessing everything about the new restaurant, and wonder how it all came to be, and also, who this man is that seems so concerned about everything going on.
After writing my last review, I decided to reach out the owner of Mexi's to see if perhaps he would like to join forces and offer a giveaway to my readers, and to be quite honest, I was astonished when he replied and said he was interested! It's not often busy business owners are interested in sitting down with a "blogger" to talk about freebies. But what surprised me the most when I walked into the restaurant for my second visit, was that the greeter at the front door was not the owner as I had assumed, instead, the young man who had been so involved in the preparation of the dishes, who wore the same grey shirt all the other employees wore, a man who couldn’t be any older than myself, was actually the owner. And not only was he the owner of the new Orleans location, but the owner of the only other still-standing Mexi’s in Ottawa.
Something about all of this interested me and I wanted to know more about it. I’ve never been one to care much for restaurants and their origins, but there was something about this particular one that got me thinking. Why was Mexi’s suddenly back in town? Why had it disappeared in the first place? And how did someone as young as he come to own such a well-established chain of restaurants?
THE STORY OF THE DISAPPEARING MEXI'S
Mexicali's Rosas was born in 1979 by Clyde Ross, originally from California, who wanted to take the flavors and textures of Mexican cuisine and the flavors and textures of Southern California cuisine and combine them to create an authentic, original Mexican-style eatery. Although he was already the owner of a relatively successful restaurant near Ottawa University, he chose to open a second restaurant, this one named Mexicali Rosa's in the Glebe.
Within just a few years, the restaurant was extremely popular, well-received and was, in fact, being "head-hunted" to become a franchise - everyone and their mother wanted to be apart of this growing obsession with authentic Mexican food.
In 1988, Ross decided to make the Mexicali name into a franchise and within a few years, it had developed into over 2 dozen restaurants within in Ottawa and, as well the Maritimes. For many years, the restaurant did very well. In fact, it became a Mexican food staple in many lives in the Ottawa area - mine included - the red and gold sign had been something of a landmark for me.
Unfortunately, however, turning something amazing into a franchise isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Unlike regular commercial restaurants like Starbucks, each restaurant is owned by a different owner, not a corporation, and so retaining control over quality, menu, and so forth is often a very difficult task. If you've ever seen the movie Founder about how McDonald's was originally an uncontrolled franchise (with burritos being sold at one point) you can understand how things can sometimes get out of hand. And although a lot of the Mexi's staples were still being offered, many owners were adding their own items to the menu.
Mexi's quickly began experiencing many issues and their following started to dwindle just as quickly as it had begun. Within only a few years, the Mexi's we had come to know and love was no more, especially once the original franchise company quietly went out of business in 2011.
A New Beginning
But that didn't mean it was all over! A man by the name of Matthew Youden, originally from the Maritimes, purchased the name, as well as the rights to the franchise and decided to turn the entire thing around. After re-opening three restaurants in Moncton, Fredericton, and Halifax, he chose to come back to Ottawa to see if he couldn't do the same here. The issue was that the lackluster organization of all the restaurants needed to be changed. And so although the restaurants had still technically been franchises since the actual head company had gone out of business, there was no one controlling what happened within the individual restaurants - until Youden came in. Youden called out to all the owners of all the Mexis' and basically said, "Pay your franchise dues and start implementing our new model or change your names."
Having been running their businesses the way they preferred for many years, every Mexi's in Ottawa chose the latter. Some closed down because owners were getting older and didn't have the energy to partake in a franchise such as this one, but most of them simply changed their names, some of their decor, and continued to run successful restaurants.
That being said, however, Youden being all the way back in the Maritimes, needed someone he could trust, someone who was ambitious, someone who could make Mexi's just as authentic as it had been when people had grown to love it over 3 decades ago. Enter Dimitri and Eli Aramouni.
Passion, Energy, and Love for Community
I'll be totally honest here - I'd never done something like this before - having a face-to-face meeting with the owner of a business for the purposes of partnering up to create a giveaway (or anything else, for that matter), so I wasn't sure what to expect. Additionally, since I'd already written the review (which is usually where we include a giveaway), I just wasn't sure how to proceed.
After some initial planning over email, Dimitri invited me to the restaurant to discuss the whole thing over a meal - he even invited my whole family to come along! And although it was just me and my son, as soon as Dimitri sat down and started talking, I had a very strong idea of what this article would look like. As my son sat quietly colouring the most original kids' menu I've ever seen (seriously - I was quite impressed), I ordered a Mexi's Marguerita - their specialty drink - and my son ordered a root beer (and boy was he happy when it came in a bottle!), while Dimitri took a seat beside my son and we dove into the task at hand.
Initially, I asked him some questions, with no real purpose for them, such as: What Happened To Mexis? He explained a lot of what I explained above which really intrigued me. So, I asked him, "Why Now?" If Mexi's didn't work back then, why did anyone think it would work now?
He explained to me that back in the day, the Mexi's franchise grew so quickly and so fiercely that there were quite a few holes that hadn't had a chance to be filled; like enabling other franchisees to implement their own recipes. Additionally, Mexi's became known for a few things like their salsa, their guacamole and the freshness of their foods. The problem was, however, that in order for all the restaurants to have the exact same salsa and guacamole, it needed to be pre-packaged (or "bagged" as Dimitri explained) which took away from the authentic freshness.
Quickly, the franchise became very corporate, the small details unique to Mexi's were diminishing in quality, and because there was so much undetermined at head office, the employees weren't very happy which resulted in customer service taking a nose dive. He elaborated on his motives by saying,
"I want to bring authenticity back to Mexi's. [this restaurant] is a staple in Ottawa, and Orleans, too, and so the nostalgia is already there, but we need to bring it back to its roots."
When I asked him how he planned to do that, he began a passionate dialogue about the importance of creating their food same-day to maintain its freshness. He spoke of the importance of using fresh produce, good cuts of meat, following recipes to the letter, and intensive training to ensure everyone could, and did, do as such. As he spoke, he seemed so passionate and adamant on the subject that I actually forgot to take notes. And although, he explained, doing so meant bringing staff in earlier than most restaurants and paying for staff to be in at a time where there was no "profit" to be made, he thought it was nonnegotiable; it was all for the greater good.
At this point, after all the talk about food, I was starving. My son wanted fajitas - which are not on the kids' menu, so Dimitri offered him a lunch portion. I, on the other hand, am notorious for taking forever to choose my meal so I asked him what Mexi's is known for. He said, without bias, that the nachos are amazing - and I will say, I have a weakness for nachos. They have a pretty large selection so I went with the taco beef nachos.
As we continued talking, I asked him why, of all the restaurants he could have purchased in Ottawa, why Mexi's?
After University, Dimitri was determined to do something that mattered. He had grown up in the service industry, as his parents and grandparents own the Canal Ritz, so he knew the ins and outs of running a successful restaurant. Additionally, he studied Human Geography in school, focusing on Urban Planning, so he knew he wanted to purchase something that wasn't exactly "current" but was still somewhat known and to find a location that would be both beneficial to the business, but also to the community.
When he found out Mexi's was a possibility, he was excited. "I have a [huge] passion for Mexican food and [experimenting with] alcoholic beverages...I love different types of beer, as well as fine tequilas. I have a passion for freshness and using fresh produce and meats to create good, natural meals; when you think Mexican, you think of the use of fresh foods - a lot of lemon, garlic, and cilantro." Mexicali Rosa's was perfect for him. Not only did his first restaurant have a decent location, it also required a lot of work, which was an exciting challenge for him. Thus, he and his brother purchased the Mexi’s on Dow's Lake in 2015.
The problem, however, was that the Dow's Lake location was a feast or famine area - unless there was an event going on around there, there weren't a lot of customers, which meant the staff didn't get the exposure they needed to hone in on their training. When there was a big event and staff was suddenly bombarded with customers, they didn't know how to handle it and would often get frazzled and stressed.
That's why, in 2017, Dimitri decided to open a new location (opened in 2018) - and this time, he got to choose the location and he knew exactly where it would be - in the heart of Orleans.
"It's a great location." He said, looking out the windows. "It has the Shenkman theater right behind us, gorgeous fountains, some great businesses surrounding, and I'm hoping that by bringing Mexi's here, it will help boost this portion of Orleans, as well. It's really such a great location."
At that point, our food came and all topics of conversation went out the window. He left my son and I to enjoy our meals, and that we did!
The nachos were amazing (like, drool-worthy) and my son ate every morsel of his fajitas – and if you know my son, that’s saying a lot! And although it tasted “homemade” it was definitely not lacking in flavor! The best part though, was the guacamole. I have just recently discovered this sometimes very bland condiment, and - to be quite honest - I have never enjoyed a guacamole that I hadn't made myself - I prefer it to be fresh and thick, with chunks of tomatoes and onions - not a green paste that tastes like air. Well, let me tell you, this guacamole was perfect - for the first time in my life, I put dollops of it on my nachos (who knew nachos would be good with guacamole?!).
Dimitri came by again to ask us how we were enjoying ourselves and I exclaimed about the guacamole. That's when we got to talking about his love for giving back to his community. All the produce and meats he purchases for the restaurant come directly from Orleans - in fact, they come from The Orleans Fruit Farm. The contractors who helped build the restaurant, the designers, the artists, the door installer who will be installing the door to the new patio coming at the end of June, even his plumber; they're all from Orleans!
"I love this community and I am a huge advocate of putting anything that comes into this restaurant back into the community."
At the end of it, I left the restaurant extremely full (and I hadn't even been able to eat 1/2 of the nachos) and understanding a little bit more about both the Mexi's chain as a whole, as well as what the new goal is for the brand. And although my initial impression of Dimitri was that he was young, every time I asked him about the food, he would go on a tangent about the freshness and the flavours and the textures, and I could see the passion in his face when he spoke, which makes me think he may just be the perfect person to own and re-instill the authenticity of Mexican food into Mexicali Rosa's.
I have very high hopes for the restaurant this time around - it excites me to know that something that was a staple in my childhood is now being rejuvenated and brought back to its roots. And since Mexico is my son’s favourite place to visit (yes, my well-travelled 6-year-old has a favourite country!), perhaps he will take his own kids there one day and explain to them that Mexicali Rosa's is the closets you'll get to Mexico without getting on a plane.
***GIVEAWAY!!***
Mexicali Rosa's and The Pensive Mama would like for one lucky couple to win #DINNERFORTWO at Mexi's Orleans! (Value of over $75) just in time for the patio to open!!
All you have to do is like either The Pensive Mama's Facebook page OR Mexi's Orleans Facebook page, and then you must share and comment beneath the article (so we can track who has been entered).
**Open to Canadian residents only and ends June 20th, 2018, at 11:59 pm.
CONTEST RULES: Open to Canadian residents only. Must be 18 or over to join. Once winner has been announced, winner has 72 hours to reply to the email to accept. No substitution for cash is permitted. The selected winner must correctly answer a skill-testing question in order to claim the price. Neither The Pensive Mama nor Mexicali Rosa's are responsible for delivering the prize; prize will be obtained at the restaurant.
Loved Mexicali Rosa's back in the day and I am so happy they are back! Nice to know the whole story about how/why they left. Looking forward to try out their sangria this summer!
My wife and I used to go to the old Mexicali Rosa's in Orleans. We are very happy to see that a new one has opened.
I enjoyed this article, and am excited about the contest.
Love this article! Never knew the story behind it. Just realized last week that we had one in orleans now!
I was so excited when I saw this restaurant was opening. I can't wait to try it :)