Family, food, and culture come together at La Moderna Taqueria in Aberdeen
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ABERDEEN — A bright orange and red building sits on the corner of Main Street and East Bingham Street in Aberdeen, drawing customers inside.
For Ana Sanchez and her family, this is intentional. It represents more than just a business; it represents a piece of Mexican culture brought into her small community.
Sanchez and her husband, Hector Landaverde, co-own La Moderna Taqueria alongside Sanchez’s sister, Alma Leos, and her husband, Ricardo Leos. The two couples opened the business after seeing an opportunity to bring new services and food options to Aberdeen.
“They offered us an opportunity and explained how everything here was,” Sanchez said. “Saying that it was a good opportunity for my sister, her husband and me and my husband.”
Seeing a gap in local variety, the family decided to open both a Mexican store and a taqueria.
“We saw that Aberdeen needed a little more variety and something new,” Sanchez said. “Since it’s a small place, sometimes there are not enough providers, and they can come here for services or products they might not otherwise find locally.”
La Moderna offers a wide range of goods and services, blending a traditional market with community resources. Customers can find authentic Mexican food items, spices, cactus pads, baked goods, and boots, along with services such as phone payments, bill payments in the U.S. and Mexico, money orders, and wire transfers. The store also features a small section of South American products.
A key part of the business is cultural authenticity.
“We went with the name La Moderna to get people to see the Mexican culture here, authentic food, and handmade corn tortillas,” Sanchez said. “We offer a little bit of everything.”
Next to the store, the taqueria serves freshly prepared dishes, with a focus on traditional recipes.
“Our specialty is the carnitas and menudo, with our handmade tortillas,” Sanchez said. “Birria also sells pretty well.”
Food is prepared each morning to ensure freshness, a standard the family insists on maintaining.
The restaurant operates on a limited schedule, open Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Fridays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and weekends from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with leftover food available for takeout after hours. The market, however, stays open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Despite the workload, Sanchez and her family said the experience has been positive so far, especially in a new community.
“It’s been great here,” she said. “We are grateful the community has received us well and with open arms.”
The business is rooted in family collaboration, with multiple relatives involved in daily operations. Sanchez’s daughter helps in the store, while her nieces work as servers and their husbands assist in cooking carnitas on weekends.
“Our menu is small, but we are working on branching out,” she said.
For now, La Moderna Taqueria continues to grow, serving as both a cultural space and a community resource in Aberdeen.