LIFT UP LOCAL 018
Written by Pamela Patton
📷 courtesy of Amber Rose Photography
Made-From-Scratch as Only She Can
When most people retire, they plan on a work-free life of leisure. Not Alicia Gonzales. After 30 years working in community service, she retired at 60, then in 2008, she started her restaurant, Alicia’s Authentic Mexican Deli and Catering, serving authentic Mexican food. Fifteen years, it’s still going strong.
A Texas native, Alicia is always asked if her food is authentic. Her reply? “It’s as authentic as I can make it. I’m from Texas, so people come to the restaurant and say, ‘Do you have Tex-Mex food?’ I tell them I’m only serving my homemade recipes.”
📷 courtesy of Amber Rose Photography
Her menu is a blend of tacos, enchiladas, and her best-selling wet burritos. She also serves menudo (a tripe soup made with cow’s stomach), which is authentic, as is the barbacoa, which is cow cheek meat.
But a customer favorite that her diners can’t get enough of is her made-from-scratch salsa. Although the recipe is relatively simple—tomatoes and onions, fresh cilantro all the time, and spices—no one makes it like Alicia. “I think people who work for me learn how to do it, but for some reason, it has a special taste when I make it. I created the recipe, and I use my hand to measure the ingredients; it always comes out the same. But cooking is not so much about what’s in the recipe; it’s more about how you cook it, stir it, turn it down, etc. My granddaughter asked, ‘Grandma, can you give me your enchilada sauce recipe?’ I told her, ‘I’ll give you the recipe, but you’ll have to watch me do it.’”
“Cooking is not so much about what’s in the recipe; it’s more about how you cook it.””
📷 courtesy of Amber Rose Photography
And just like her cooking, Alicia approached Capital City Market about carrying her salsa in her own way. “I heard Capital City Market was coming to downtown Lansing, and I’d always wanted to market my salsa. I read on the Meijer website that they were looking for vendors, so I pursued it. They mentored me on how to design a label and create the bar codes and how to get started.”
Alicia’s salsa is available in two variations, mild and hot, which gets its kick from fresh habanero peppers. Because she uses no preservatives, it is in the refrigerator case.
Alicia plans to expand other products and is working with Capital City Market to carry her veggie tamales and enchiladas. But if you’re looking for her dishes to enjoy at home, you can find a deli case full of tamales, desserts, wet burritos, enchiladas, chips and salsa, and more at her restaurant on N. Grand River in Lansing.
📷 courtesy of Amber Rose Photography
“Sometimes my restaurant patrons ask where to get my salsa, and I tell them Capital City Market. Other times, Market customers will buy my salsa and then want to come to my restaurant for my full menu. Either way, I’m grateful that Meijer gave me this opportunity and that the Lansing-area community supports Alicia’s Salsa and my restaurant.”
Between hand-crafting her salsa, managing her restaurant, and running her catering business, Alicia Gonzales’ retirement keeps her very busy.