New horizons for Hacienda owners
Elaine and Al at the 30th anniversary celebration of the Hacienda, with the original Taco Hut sign. Courtesy photo
By Barb Mosher, Contributing Writer
Elaine Vasquez doesn’t think in terms of closed doors. She prefers to see the future as an open one that she’s eager to step through.
“We had a good run, so let’s go home and look forward to a new door opening,” she told family, friends, and staff last October after shutting and locking the front entrance of Vasquez’ Hacienda restaurant to the general public for the last time.
Elaine and her husband, Al, owned and operated the popular establishment south of Elk Rapids for 45 years, serving up authentic Mexican cuisine and occasional Polish Night dinners to hungry residents and visitors. But for Elaine, the closure marked the conclusion of a literal lifetime in the food service industry.
She was born in 1948, the year her parents, Alexander and Elizabeth Matusky, moved here from Detroit to buy the Rainbow Garden restaurant, home now to Pearl’s New Orleans Kitchen. Growing up in and around the business and their home just behind it, Elaine, older sister, Pat, and younger sister, Sandy, knew no distinction between the two.
“We would get off the school bus, come in the back door of the restaurant for a snack, and then head to the house to do chores,” Elaine recalled.
By the time she was eight, she was washing dishes in the restaurant’s triple sink. “No automatic dishwashers back then,” she said.
As teens, she and her sisters would invite friends to potato parties — peeling, cutting, and blanching a hundred pounds of potatoes in preparation for the weekly fish fry. At 15, Elaine started cooking alongside her father while her mother recuperated from health issues. “Anything to get away from having to wash those dishes,” she laughed.
Elaine laughs a lot when she talks about the business that has sustained multiple generations of not only her own family but the cooks, servers, hostesses, bartenders and, yes, dishwashers (she affectionately refers to them as dish dogs) who have earned paychecks from the Hacienda along the way. It’s those people, she says, who made it all worth it.
“We’ve had three, four generations here,” she said. “I always told the kids who worked for me, ‘This is your first job. If you hate it, you can still learn from it, or you can move on. It’s not for everyone, but it can be a lot of fun.’”
It was 1964 when she met Al whose family had moved to Elk Rapids from Brownsville, Texas. She was 16; he was 18. They married three years later, and three years after that they opened the Taco Hut in Elk Rapids. Introducing Mexican food to the area proved a successful gamble, and in 1974, with two young children (Jennifer and Al Jr.) and a third (Nick) on the way, they sold their home and land near Bass Lake to purchase the former Sip-N-Bite restaurant on US-31 South.
“We started with American food and served Mexican just on the weekends,” Elaine said. “You couldn’t just go completely Mexican in a place that size or you’d never make it.”
Within two years, the taste for quality Mexican cuisine had taken hold, and their menu featured more of that than American fare. They renamed their business Vasquez’ Hacienda Ristorante and Cantina, and it became a village landmark with customers streaming through the doors for Elaine’s enchiladas, burritos, tamales, and salsas.
“There was no other Mexican restaurant in the area until La Seniorita came into Traverse City,” Elaine said. “Now, of course, they’re everywhere.”
It wasn’t competition but the recession of 2008 that led Elaine and Al to consider how much longer it would be feasible to run a large restaurant and bar.
“Eating out became a luxury for people who were worried about saving their homes,” she said. “It was a challenge to decide if we could stay with it until the economy bounced back. It took me ten more years to finally make up my mind.”
Al retired several years ago, but Elaine couldn’t quite let go at that point. When something’s in your blood, you don’t just walk away quickly, easily, or necessarily permanently.
“I still love it,” she mused. “It grows on you and stays with you. I still think about going to some other restaurant as a prep cook a few days a week. But I also think I need to stay away for a bit and think about it.”
Elaine has a lot of options to consider, many doors wide open to new adventures. There are her red and green salsas that have been consistent sellers at the Village Market in Elk Rapids. She’d like to expand distribution and perhaps add her famous enchilada sauce to the product line.
She’s also considering writing a cookbook featuring a variety of international cuisine including, of course, recipes from Al’s Mexican heritage and her Polish lineage. Her sisters, she says, are both great cooks; one spends half the year in Malaysia and has also developed a talent for Indian cooking. A family cookbook project could keep them all busy for a while.
And then there are her two grandsons, three-year-old Colton in Boston and two-and-a-half-year-old Xander in Traverse City. “Of course, I want to spend more time with them,” Elaine said. “I can’t just sit at home and do nothing. I don’t even want to.”
One thing seems clear: Elk Rapids hasn’t seen the last of Elaine’s culinary passion. It’s hard to say where it will surface though; there are just too many tempting doors open right now. Meanwhile, she and Al are grateful to all who supported and encouraged them the last 45 years.
“We made lots of friends including employees, some gone now, and have shared memories, laughs, and tears, but it was all good,” Elaine said. “Small towns share a special closeness, and we’re proud to be part of this one.”
Elaine Vasquez doesn’t think in terms of closed doors. She prefers to see the future as an open one that she’s eager to step through.
“We had a good run, so let’s go home and look forward to a new door opening,” she told family, friends, and staff last October after shutting and locking the front entrance of Vasquez’ Hacienda restaurant to the general public for the last time.
Elaine and her husband, Al, owned and operated the popular establishment south of Elk Rapids for 45 years, serving up authentic Mexican cuisine and occasional Polish Night dinners to hungry residents and visitors. But for Elaine, the closure marked the conclusion of a literal lifetime in the food service industry.
She was born in 1948, the year her parents, Alexander and Elizabeth Matusky, moved here from Detroit to buy the Rainbow Garden restaurant, home now to Pearl’s New Orleans Kitchen. Growing up in and around the business and their home just behind it, Elaine, older sister, Pat, and younger sister, Sandy, knew no distinction between the two.
“We would get off the school bus, come in the back door of the restaurant for a snack, and then head to the house to do chores,” Elaine recalled.
By the time she was eight, she was washing dishes in the restaurant’s triple sink. “No automatic dishwashers back then,” she said.
As teens, she and her sisters would invite friends to potato parties — peeling, cutting, and blanching a hundred pounds of potatoes in preparation for the weekly fish fry. At 15, Elaine started cooking alongside her father while her mother recuperated from health issues. “Anything to get away from having to wash those dishes,” she laughed.
Elaine laughs a lot when she talks about the business that has sustained multiple generations of not only her own family but the cooks, servers, hostesses, bartenders and, yes, dishwashers (she affectionately refers to them as dish dogs) who have earned paychecks from the Hacienda along the way. It’s those people, she says, who made it all worth it.
“We’ve had three, four generations here,” she said. “I always told the kids who worked for me, ‘This is your first job. If you hate it, you can still learn from it, or you can move on. It’s not for everyone, but it can be a lot of fun.’”
It was 1964 when she met Al whose family had moved to Elk Rapids from Brownsville, Texas. She was 16; he was 18. They married three years later, and three years after that they opened the Taco Hut in Elk Rapids. Introducing Mexican food to the area proved a successful gamble, and in 1974, with two young children (Jennifer and Al Jr.) and a third (Nick) on the way, they sold their home and land near Bass Lake to purchase the former Sip-N-Bite restaurant on US-31 South.
“We started with American food and served Mexican just on the weekends,” Elaine said. “You couldn’t just go completely Mexican in a place that size or you’d never make it.”
Within two years, the taste for quality Mexican cuisine had taken hold, and their menu featured more of that than American fare. They renamed their business Vasquez’ Hacienda Ristorante and Cantina, and it became a village landmark with customers streaming through the doors for Elaine’s enchiladas, burritos, tamales, and salsas.
“There was no other Mexican restaurant in the area until La Seniorita came into Traverse City,” Elaine said. “Now, of course, they’re everywhere.”
It wasn’t competition but the recession of 2008 that led Elaine and Al to consider how much longer it would be feasible to run a large restaurant and bar.
“Eating out became a luxury for people who were worried about saving their homes,” she said. “It was a challenge to decide if we could stay with it until the economy bounced back. It took me ten more years to finally make up my mind.”
Al retired several years ago, but Elaine couldn’t quite let go at that point. When something’s in your blood, you don’t just walk away quickly, easily, or necessarily permanently.
“I still love it,” she mused. “It grows on you and stays with you. I still think about going to some other restaurant as a prep cook a few days a week. But I also think I need to stay away for a bit and think about it.”
Elaine has a lot of options to consider, many doors wide open to new adventures. There are her red and green salsas that have been consistent sellers at the Village Market in Elk Rapids. She’d like to expand distribution and perhaps add her famous enchilada sauce to the product line.
She’s also considering writing a cookbook featuring a variety of international cuisine including, of course, recipes from Al’s Mexican heritage and her Polish lineage. Her sisters, she says, are both great cooks; one spends half the year in Malaysia and has also developed a talent for Indian cooking. A family cookbook project could keep them all busy for a while.
And then there are her two grandsons, three-year-old Colton in Boston and two-and-a-half-year-old Xander in Traverse City. “Of course, I want to spend more time with them,” Elaine said. “I can’t just sit at home and do nothing. I don’t even want to.”
One thing seems clear: Elk Rapids hasn’t seen the last of Elaine’s culinary passion. It’s hard to say where it will surface though; there are just too many tempting doors open right now. Meanwhile, she and Al are grateful to all who supported and encouraged them the last 45 years.
“We made lots of friends including employees, some gone now, and have shared memories, laughs, and tears, but it was all good,” Elaine said. “Small towns share a special closeness, and we’re proud to be part of this one.”
The Hacienda at the time Elaine and Al purchased it in 1974. Courtesy photo
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