Family serves Mexican flavor

Photographs of Mexico City adorn the walls of a new family-owned Mexican restaurant in Spokane Valley.

There’s the opera house and cathedral and Angel of Independence, along with other landmarks that remind the sisters who run the place of their roots.

Although they’ve spent most of their lives in the U.S., the duo hail from the capital of Mexico and aim to capture the city’s flavors in their cooking.

But La Plaza de Mexico is no taquería. While customers can order a taco here, this is a casual, sit-down eatery with a full menu – and a full bar.

Carol Navarrete, 38, and Lili Navarrete, 37, manage the restaurant. Another sister, Gracia Navarrete, 31, works there part-time. Their brother, Emmanuel Cortes, 23, “comes in and eats, and then we make him work,” Lili Navarrete said. Their parents, the owners, live nearby.

“Mom saw this place (for sale). She’s always wanted to have a little restaurant of her own,” Lili Navarrete said.

The sisters came to Spokane from Mexico City with their parents in 1988.

“We learned English in a year,” Carol Navarette said.

The sisters are close; their lives, parallel. Both graduated from Ferris High School – Carol in 1994, Lili in 1995. They lived at home, commuting to Eastern Washington University in Cheney and working at a Mexican restaurant in Spokane throughout college.

“We’re only a year apart, so we’ve done everything pretty much together,” Lili Navarette said.

It took three months for the family to give a new look to the restaurant, which formerly housed what was described on tripadvisor.com as “a quickie taco joint.”

They did La Plaza de Mexico, which seats 86, in neutral colors with burgundy accents, painting the place inside and out before opening at the end of October.

“We stayed away from the sombreros,” Lili Navarrete said.

Adelita’s Platter for $18.75, named for their maternal grandmother, is a specialty. It’s also the most expensive item on the restaurant menu and “muy grande!” according to the description. (Prices on the catering menu run from $7.50 to $45.95.) There’s grilled skirt steak, grilled chicken, camarones al mojo de ajo (garlic shrimp), rice, beans, guacamole and tortillas.

Carne asada for $13.95 is a signature dish.

“Our carne asada is different because we make it on the grill,” Lili Navarrete said. “It’s what we eat in Mexico, the real carne asada. We’re trying to be authentic.”

The mole, horchata, chips and salsa are made in-house, she said.

Owner Martha Lorenzo, 58, and her son-in-law, Lili Navarrete’s husband, Armando Baena, 35, do the food. They’ve come up with 21 combination plates.

“We pretty much have a little bit of everything,” Carol Navarrete said.

The grandchildren – there are eight of them, ages 5 to 13 – have already been dubbed “future employees.”

And they already help out, too, Carol Navarrete said, “so they can appreciate what we go through on a daily basis and to get to know our food and our country and where we came from.”