Depending on which door you enter La Jalisciense in Southwest Detroit, you may find a restaurant, or a grocery market! “My dad came home one day and said, ‘Oh I bought a grocery store here in the US’, cause he had said he was going to retire from that, from like business,” Lesli Vargas, Operations Manager for La Jalisciense told “Live in the D’s,” April Morton.
She says instead of retiring, her dad Jose purchased a grocery store in 2014, two years after the family moved to Detroit from Mexico City. She says he didn’t stop there, he also purchased the restaurant next to the market, and the name comes from their native roots.
“What you call someone who comes from Jalisco, but for us the meaning of La Jalisciense is my dad’s first store. So, he was at that store for 27 years in Mexico City, that was like his beloved La Jalisciens,” Vargas said.
More recently Vargas, who is 20 years old, and her brothers, who are 17 and 21 years old, have been slowly taking over the family business. Although the parents Jose and Teresa are still involved with running the business, Vargas says she runs the day to day operations for both the store and restaurant, and her brothers help run the business as well. 21 year old Jose runs the deli meat counter and kitchen, and he spoke with April about their most popular dish, “Cecina”. He also gave her a lesson on how to create the dish at home.
Click video above the see the entire interview, and how April did cooking an authentic Mexican dish!