New restaurant La Reyna brings ‘a little bit of Mexico’ to Pocatello
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POCATELLO — A new restaurant has opened next to the highest concentration of college students in Pocatello, and the owners say they are serving food that has been in their family for generations.
La Reyna, located at 1301 South 5th Ave. in Pocatello, which is exactly one block away from the Idaho State University campus, just opened about three months ago.
EastIdahoNews.com sat down with one of the owners and tried three delicious dishes, which have been passed down through three generations, and are now available to college students, professors and anyone who decides to give them a visit.
“We just want everybody to feel welcome and feel like, (as) if they’re in their own kitchen, in their mom’s kitchen, grandma’s kitchen, and be able to taste a little bit of Mexico,” said Melissa Lopez, co-owner of the restaurant with her mother, Maria de Los Angeles Garcia.
Before La Reyna came into existence, Garcia ran a restaurant in the Boise metropolitan area. And before that, Garcia’s mother ran a restaurant in Mexico.
And Lopez, who grew up around her mother’s restaurant, also wanted to start a restaurant. Eventually, her husband found the property in Pocatello available for purchase.
“Do you want to do it?” she recalled him asking her.
“Yes, let’s go ahead and (make) our dream come true,” Lopez said.
They decided to buy the property and make the move to the Pocatello area. And her mother decided to come along with her, so they opened La Reyna together.
“We love it. It was a big move to Pocatello, but we love it here. The people are so sweet, and they welcomed us for sure,” Lopez said.
The first dish we tried was the Enchiladas Michoacana, which is a special dish for Lopez.
“They’re actually from my mom’s hometown. So we grew up eating them, and now we make them here,” Lopez said.
The dish features beans and rice, which are cooked fresh each morning, with an in-house red salsa, grilled chicken and potatoes. Both the chicken and the potatoes are prepared and cooked fresh each morning, as well.
“No frozen potatoes,” Lopez confirmed. “We try to make everything authentic Mexican food.”
The second dish they had us sample was the Pollo a La Crema, which, at first glance, resembled a pasta. But rather than noodles, the dish features julienned bell peppers in its sauce.
Additionally, the dish has onions in the sauce, with lettuce and tomato served on the side, as well as rice and beans. On a separate plate, La Reyna serves its homemade fresh corn tortillas.
“You can make yourself a little taco,” Lopez said.
The final dish EastIdahoNews.com tried was the Birria Grilled Cheese.
“It’s a little bit like a quesabirria — but instead of the tortilla, it’s the bread,” Lopez said.
The sandwich is made with sourdough bread, with birria shredded beef and cheese. On the side, it has a dipping broth, which was cooked together with the meat.
And as Lopez explained, the way they get the broth is the key to making the bread pack so much flavor. When preparing it, the sourdough is first dipped in the broth and then grilled.
“I remember the first time she made it,” Lopez said, referring to Garcia. “I was like, ‘Wow! This is delicious!’ It’s a little mix of Mexico and here. That’s how I see it,” Lopez said.
While Lopez and Garcia have put up many of their own decorations in the restaurant, there’s still a lot of work they want to do on the building, like painting some of the walls.
“We just started, (and) it’s a process. It’s a process for sure, but we are so excited to see our vision come true. Little by little, it’s moving, and we love it here,” Lopez said.