KC-area restaurant closing after more than 60 years. ‘We have no choice’
Late Wednesday morning at Jalisco’s in Kansas City, Kansas, longtime customers scraped their forks against their plates, enjoying some of their final bites at the restaurant.
Jalisco’s has been serving Mexican food since Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, Richard Nixon was inaugurated, and the first astronauts landed on the moon, winning the space race for the U.S.
The paint was still drying on the walls of its original Argentine neighborhood location when protesters marched from Selma to Montgomery.
Now the spot at 5000 State Ave. plans to close at the end of the month, marking the end of a legacy that’s been running since 1965.
It’s not his choice, owner José Hernandez said. The 85-year-old was content to serve burritos, tostadas, tacos and his “famous” margaritas until he physically couldn’t anymore. And he’s almost there, though “all I do is point the finger,” he told The Star while sitting at a table inside his restaurant, which he owns with sister Fidelia Chamberlain.
But finding help in the kitchen has been hard.
“We have one person, my brother, working in the kitchen,” José said, adding that his brother isn’t in good health. “So we really have no choice but to shut it down.”
So, shut it down they will. It’s closing May 30 at 8 p.m.
Sitting at a table and awaiting his order of menudo, José told The Star that he still has a sliver of hope. He wants to reopen a spot in Argentine, its original neighborhood.
But that’s not a sure-fire thing. They’d still need more hands in the kitchen to thrive at Jalisco’s, and José is, after all, celebrating his 86th birthday next month. Still, José said Jalisco’s is the kind of restaurant people show up for.
“When we have some sort of a crisis, they always support us,” José said. “Everybody shows up.”
Seated at the table in front of José, brothers Juan, Richard, and Gabriel Zamora munched on chips and salsa and chatted. They said they’ve been part of Jalisco’s legacy since the beginning, been to the Argentine spot on multiple occasions, and have too many memories to count.
Funny story: Brothers Richard and Gabriel married — and later divorced — waitresses at Jalisco’s. The waitresses were also sisters.
“It’s a sad thing,” Gabriel said of the closure. “We’ve known the Hernandezes for what feels like forever.”
“It’s a part of history that we’re losing, for us,” Juan said in agreement. “I remember when my mom and dad brought me here as a kid.”
Now that they’re retired, they still meet up at Jalisco’s semi-regularly. Time to find a new spot, they figure.
“Can I tell you something?” a woman leaned over in her booth and interjected. “My son had his funeral dinner here.”
Denise Gray said she’s been coming here since the ‘70s, when her father’s business was next door. Now that she’s heard of the closure, she’s making it a frequent stop.
“I’m gonna be here probably every other day until the end of the month,” she said.
The sentimentality for Jalisco’s is perhaps due in part to José’s philosophy on customer service.
“The first time you come in, you’re a customer. Second time, you’re a friend,” he said. “Third or fourth time, you’re family.”
Dozens of photographs, graduation announcements, Christmas cards and notes from over the decades hang on Jalisco’s walls.
José’s father, Juan Hernandez, founded the location in Argentine about 61 years ago. As José tells it, Juan walked into the building all those years ago. It was another restaurant at the time.
There, he met the owner, an elderly woman, and suggested she step away.
“You’ve gotta sell this building because at this age, this is too much for you,” José said his father told her.
“Why don’t you buy it?” the lady shot back.
It took some coaxing, but Juan did.
Juan operated the restaurant there for about 10 years before it opened its current spot in a strip center that the Hernandez family built and owned. The Argentine spot, 1411 S 26th St., closed in 2012.
For the next half-century, the restaurant supported dozens of employees, survived changing seasons and recessions. It saw weddings and funerals.
And it fed many customers — or friends and family, rather.
“People from all over the area have come to eat at our restaurant,” José said. “I have no complaints. Everybody’s been good to us.”