Yamiltha Morales helping out the family business
Yamiltha Morales is a full time student and employee at Vista Hermosa. While she loves helping her dad run the family business, she hopes to pursue a career in medecine instead of cooking.
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"I like the kitchen. It's my love to cook something." Raul Morales says he has always felt at home in the kitchen. While growing up in Mexico, he always helped his mom cooking and cleaning.
And now, he is the owner of one of the most authentic Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles. Vista Hermosa Restaurant makes classic Mexican favorites from scratch every day, like tacos, burritos, and fajitas tortas. This hidden treasure is in the Mercado La Paloma in South Central Los Angeles, which features a wide variety of restaurants and shops.
In the 1970's, Morales worked for his aunt at a small family restaurant in Mexico City. In 1980, he decided to pursue his lifelong dream of opening his own restaurant and moved to California. Despite financial struggles, with the help of his wife and daughter, Morales opened Vista Hermosa Restaurant in 2000. Morales' cuisine focuses on traditional Mexican culture, as he still uses his old family recipes. He says the goal of the restaurant is to provide high quality Mexican food in a friendly, family-style atmosphere. "And now with the economy so bad, the most important things are quality, price, and service. I have burritos for five dollars; it's a good price. At other places I see, it can be up to nine dollars, and the quality is so-so," Morales said. One authentic Mexican dish is the Pambaso, a sandwich dipped in a sauce with Mexican sausage and deiced potatoes, for four dollars.
Vista Hermosa's most well-known plate is the Tacos al Pastor, which the Los Angeles Times named "The Tastiest Tacos al Pastor in LA." LA Times Staff Writer Barbara Hansen described it in her article as: "possibly the tastiest carne al pastor in town – it's even better than any I've tasted in Mexico. The meat is pork butt, soaked overnight in a complex marinade that includes five kinds of dried chiles, orange juice, vinegar, achiote, garlic and cinnamon, then grilled. The tacos are served on freshly made corn tortillas, cranked out with a small hand roller that owner Raul Morales brought from his native Michoacan," (articles.latimes.com/2003/jun/04).
Morales understands the importance of changing the restaurant to fulfill the changing needs of his customers, like through internet expansion and menu adaption. He says he is currently working to expand promotions to online, like through promotional offers like Groupon. He says his online presence has helped expand his clientele; while most customers used to be from USC and local businesses, he is now able to reach people throughout the Los Angeles area. He also has recently adapted the menu to fulfill the desires of customers looking for a quick snack. "Now some people don't want dinner food or a big lunch so I'm making appetizers and finger food. Little taquitos little soups, little sandwiches," he said.
Morales says one goal for the future of Vista Hermosa is to have a mobile taco truck to make his food more accessible to more people. "Right now I'm making a proposal with my brothers. Maybe it's possible in six months more months or one more year, to get a big truck," Morales said.
Morales' legendary cuisine has even grown a reputation in Hollywood, as Vista Hermosa serves big-name customers like Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar de la Hoya, and Nancy Sinatra. "Nancy Sinatra was reading the LA Times and saw something about us delivering tacos. And she called me and said 'Hi, I'm Nancy Sinatra.' I was like 'What! Come on." And she's like 'Yeah! I need your taco cart in my house.' I said 'Really? How many people?' and she said 'For nine people.' 'My minimum is 65 people' and she said 'I don't care, I'll pay.' To have a lady very, very famous in Hollywood come in my restaurant, when there are so many Mexican restaurants around, it was amazing," Morales said.
From South Central to Hollywood, Morales says he is only getting started. He hopes to continue to expand Vista Hermosa to become a household name in authentic Mexican cuisine in Los Angeles.
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