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Austin abounds in Mexican restaurants - more than 230 at last count - and Las Palomas is one of the best. Its elegant and energetic owner, MariCarmen Dale, presides over a spotless and distinctive establishment that celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Longevity of this kind is unusual in the restaurant business, but Las Palomas is an unusual restaurant. |
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MariCarmen inherited the business from her father, Javier Corona, an artist and gourmet whose palette and palate complemented each other perfectly, judging by the paintings of his that adorn the restaurant's walls and the family recipes that still appear, slightly modified, on the menu. Javier was a high-ranking employee of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City and moved in cosmopolitan circles. At the family home, lavish entertaining was a way of life. He and his wife Amelia, a talented cook, traveled widely and incorporated the culinary influences of Europe and South America into their native Mexican cuisine. |
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Upon retirement, Javier took up the Embassy's offer of U.S. residence visas for him and his family, and in 1983 moved to Texas at precisely the moment that the Mexican Government drastically devalued the peso, leaving the Corona family stranded and virtually penniless. Husband and wife decided then and there to join his artistry and vision to her culinary abilities and open a restaurant. Despite financial challenges and unfamiliarity with local customs and idiom, Javier persisted. MariCarmen will never forget his determination. It was her father's defining moment. "He was the captain," she says of him. "He never lost hope." When he died in 2003, he bequeathed to her not only a restaurant but his unwavering spirit, a sense of history, and an aesthete's eye. |
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Fortunately, the place has more than history and aesthetics going for it, although Javier's paintings are well worth a look, and the red-tiled palm-and-rattan corner bar and antique Mexican furniture do add just the right Spanish-colonial retro touch (as does the charming walled patio outside, with its weathered stone). More importantly, the service and food at Las Palomas are outstanding, because MariCarmen and her mother Amelia, who still looks in now and then, understand the importance of keeping both these elements working in harmony. Employee turnover, apart from the college students who work seasonally as waitstaff, is virtually nonexistent: The chef has been there for 20 years, the manager 15. This ensures loyalty and pride, which in turn engender efficient service. |
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When I was there, the service was not only
efficient, but discreet and polite as well, and
in a remarkably short time I was served the
Steak "Chimichurri" ($14.95) I'd ordered.
I'd have happily waited much longer for
such a meal. The Chimichurri sauce - a marinade, originally from Argentina, made
from parsley, oregano, garlic, salt, pepper,
onion, paprika, and olive oil - was neither
overwhelming nor excessively understated.
Its blended flavors perfectly complemented
the steak, a grilled beef tenderloin so tender
I hardly needed a knife. An accompanying
green enchilada stuffed with shredded
chicken was tasty and satisfying; the rice,
fluffy and mildly flavored. |
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The restaurant's location is its main handicap. The West Wood shopping center at 3201 Bee Caves Road is better situated for residents of nearby West Lake and Rollingwood, whose return custom accounts for 90% of the client base, than for diners from farther afield. But I strongly urge all those who love traditional Mexican food to make the journey. Las Palomas is a valuable local business, and one that, in all respects, earns our patronage. |
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Dinner at Javier and Amelia Corona’s home in Mexico City was never just a meal; it was an event. Hours were spent preparing their renowned creations from confidential recipes, never repeated twice for guests. Their table was always impeccably set and the food they served was always fresh from the market, never frozen. Wolfing down food prepared with such care would have been an insult. No, this was a meal meant to savor.
See, the Coronas took food very seriously. Amelia and Javier traveled extensively, sampling the world’s finest cuisines and incorporating the best elements into their interior Mexico dishes, born from the unique marriage between Amelia’s culinary skills and Javier’s finely-tuned palette.
Luckily for Austin food lovers, Javier and Amelia’s celebrated recipes have been recreated at their daughter MariCarmen Dale’s Las Palomas.
In 1982, Javier Corona was ready to retire in Mexico when–in appreciation for Javier’s many years of service as an Ambassador to the United States–he and his family were awarded visas to live in America. Tragically, however, when the Mexican government nationalized Mexico’s banks and devaluated the peso, the Coronas were left stranded in their new Austin home with no money. It was a make-or-break moment for the family.
“My father was the most positive person I have ever met. I never saw him worry,” Dale avers. “He was the captain of the ship, and I never felt unsafe.”
Javier Corona had the innovative idea to utilize his family's treasured recipes by opening a restaurant, and so Las Palomas was born.
And at the beginning, there were lots of tears and falling down. None of the Coronas had ever worked in a restaurant before, and although the family knew a little English, they could not understand regional Texas slang, and communication was difficult.
“We were crying in the back,” Dale confesses. “Everything took over an hour to get served. We'd be coming back with tears, saying, 'is everything ok?' But people would say, 'you know, it was not bad service. It was weird, but it was worth the wait.'
“My mother and father were perfectionists. I could never work with my mother in the kitchen because the sour cream had to be like that, the shrimp had to be like this, the parsley had to be like that. Our cook was trained for ten years before my mother left, and do you know why my mother left the kitchen? Because I threatened to quit if she didn't.”
MariCarmen integrated her University of Texas business training with her mother's perfectionist ways, successfully taking the reins and taming the raging Las Palomas with her mother and father as supervisors.
“I had the two best mentors anyone could ever have,” she says. “My parents have a lot of common sense.”
Javier Corona passed away in 2003, but his presence resonates within the walls of Las Palomas, from the seductive décor of the restaurant where his artwork hangs to the personal touch he insisted on when greeting his patrons.
“He is the soul of the restaurant,” Dale flatly states. “He was a gentleman.”
Javier taught his family respect for themselves and their customers. He wanted everyone who walked through the door to feel like a guest in his home, and achieved this by talking to all his customers and making them feel welcome, making loads of friends in the process.
And Javier's eternal respect for people extended to respect for the tradition of the recipes of his and Amelia's families. “We still use all of those recipes,” Dale notes. “Our menu is representative of the interior of Mexico–from Puebla the Mole Poblano, from Vera Cruz the Pescado Veracruzana–so we chose the key dishes from each state.”
I enjoyed the combination plate consisting of a mole enchilada, a verde sauce enchilada, an interior pork dish with guacamole, sautéed red onions and sides of refritos and white rice cooked in chicken broth, and I was thrilled both by the striking presentation and the mouth-watering taste of enchiladas filled to the breaking point.
Unlike a lot of Tex-Mex, there was no grease, and limitless fascinating flavors leaping from the food. Whereas border Tex-Mex food uses cumin generously, interior Mexican dishes instead use garlic, cilantro and fresh vegetables for their distinctive and delicious flavor.
Why limit yourself to food from the Mexican border when you can dine all across Mexico in one spot? And be sure to take your time… the food at Las Palomas is meant to be savored.
Austin American-Statesman (TX)
BYLINE: Dale Rice, American-Statesman Restaurant Critic
DATE: October 28, 2004
PUBLICATION: Austin American-Statesman (TX)
SECTION: XL Ent
Like a family, there are some restaurants that -- no matter how long you've been away -- make you feel instantly at home when you return. Perhaps that's why 90 percent of the customers are repeat visitors at Las Palomas, the longtime Mexican restaurant in the back corner of the Westwood Shopping Center at Walsh Tarlton Lane and Bee Cave Road. Something as seemingly small as a warm smile and greeting at the front door launches the welcoming ambience and establishes the expectations for friendly service, which never relents throughout the meal.
That's the legacy of the late Javier Corona and his wife, Amelia, who founded the restaurant in 1983, and their daughter, MariCarmen Dale, who is carrying on that tradition. While the restaurant has always been a family operation, it is more than that. It's a comfortable place for families, as demonstrated by several tables of multigenerational diners on a recent evening.
Even the recipes reflect those familial links: They were collected from generations of Amelia's family in the interior of Mexico. Consequently, they do not represent the border dishes of typical Tex-Mex restaurants.
The tortilla soup ($3.50 for a cup, $3.95 for a bowl) is a good example of that. It has a hearty, moderately spicy, tomato-based broth made with chicken stock. But it is not thick with chunks of chicken and vegetables like the more familiar version of the soup. In fact, it contains only a few thin, fried tortilla strips and crumbled cheese. Here, it's all about the tasty broth, not the added ingredients.
Another appetizer, the empanadas ($5.95) were golden envelopes of pastry, one filled with cheese and the other stuffed with pork (two of the four choices available), served with a side of guacamole. The ceviche ($7.95) featured small cubes of white fish that had been marinated in lime juice with onions, cilantro, tomatoes and spices, reflecting the Corona family's emphasis on freshness at Las Palomas. In fact, the first taste of salsa -- with its sharp, distinct bite of cilantro -- was a good indicator of things to come.
For the entrees, the cochinita pibil ($10.95) represented the influence of the Yucatan: shredded pork loin cooked in a spicy red sauce and topped with marinated onions. It was served with a white rice (not the typical Mexican rice cooked with tomatoes and bits of vegetables) and refried beans.
The shrimp in lemon sauce ($12.95) picked up the European influence that is often found in the dishes of interior Mexico, with a delicate sauce of citrus, capers and butter. The chimichurri steak ($12.95) extended the menu southward, with a parsley-based sauce mostly identified with Argentina. The exceptionally tender beef was accompanied by a chicken enchilada with a tomatillo sauce, rice and refried beans. For a sweet finish, the flan ($3.75) delivered a wedge of dark custard that was accented with a bit of Grand Marnier, the orange-flavored liqueur.
The tres leches cake ($3.95), a rectangle just a bit more than an inch thick, had a finer crumb than many similar confections and only a scant puddle of cream surrounding it. But it was one of the most evenly moist -- and one of the best -- pieces of this style of cake that I've had.
For decadence, there are always the sopapillas with ice cream ($3.95 for two). The fried rounds of dough are drizzled with honey and crowned with scoops of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with cinnamon, perfect for the young -- and young at heart -- in your crowd. For the most part, though, the fare at Las Palomas is as sophisticated as the tastes of its founders, who embraced legions of diners as family.
Las Palomas. At this longtime restaurant in the Westwood Shopping Center at Walsh Tarlton Lane and Bee Cave Road, 90 percent of the customers are repeat visitors. That's due to the welcoming attitude and interior Mexican fare. Good entrees include the cochinita pibil (pork), shrimp in lemon sauce and steak chimichurri, while the flan and tres leches cake are a delightful finish.
