El Primero: Alejandra Toribio assumes ownership of city's first Mexican restaurant
Mar. 14—Last year during the coronavirus pandemic, Alejandra Toribio took over the ownership of La Casa Noble De La Familia Toribio — better known as El Toribio — from her parents, Antonio and Elsa Toribio.
And she set about promoting both the restaurant at 3034 Kentucky 144 and the community.
First up was an event with Ben Skiadas' Lure Seafood and Grille in the Good Time Tent downtown to raise money for the Goodfellows Club.
The first night's menu featured food from Lure and cocktails from El Toribio.
The second featured a menu from El Toribio with cocktails from Lure.
"We want to do that again this year," Toribio said. "It was phenomenal last year."
And then, she created the city's first Tour de Taco with nine other Mexican restaurants to raise money for Puzzle Pieces.
For $25, customers could get a box of 10 tacos — one from each restaurant.
"I wanted to do this because the Mexican restaurants are always competing with each other," Toribio said at the time. "I wanted us to do something together. Next year, maybe we can do a Tour de Margaritas."
Last week, she said, "Our taco event went so well that we're going to do it again this year. I'm waiting for warmer weather. I want to do it outside this year with all the restaurants having stands in the same place for people to sample."
Toribio said, "I'm going to check on using the Owensboro Convention Center or the RiverPark Center. If that doesn't work, we can use my parking lot."
And she's serious about the Tour de Margaritas.
"People love alcohol," Toribio said. "I'm working on a margarita contest. It's something else for people to do."
She said she has the only Margarita Tower in town.
It hold 100 ounces of Margarita and costs $49.99.
"It has three bottles of tequila," Toribio said. "It's really for six people, but sometimes couples order it. I had one woman come and say she had had a bad week and she wanted to order it. She said she could get a ride home. She drank it all by herself in six hours."
And even though El Toribio doesn't have a hamburger on its menu, she decided to enter the competition for "best hamburger" in the county.
"Hamburger Week went really well," Toribio said. "We don't have hamburgers on the menu, but people asked us to keep it on the menu, so we will."
The Torta Burger features a toasted bun with chorizo beans, an all beef patty topped with melted pepper Jack, lettuce tomato and Crema Mexicana, served with a side of cheese dip for dunking.
She said, "My parents don't like change, but we do."
"We" is her brother, Tony Jr., her partner, who helps her with decisions.
"He has more experience than I do," Toribio said.
The transition of ownership last year "was very abrupt, but my parents were ready for a change," she said. "They're still part of the restaurant, but Dad wants to do his own thing. He has a farm in Mexico and he spends a lot of time there. My mother goes back and forth."
She said the family has been in Owensboro, where she was born, since 1985
"We were the first Mexican restaurant here," Toribio said. "There are 14 Mexican restaurants now. They're all over Owensboro."
The county's Hispanic population has grown steadily since the 1980s.
The U.S. Census Bureau says there were 623 Hispanics here in 1990.
That grew to 3,146 in 2019.
El Toribio grew to a three restaurant chain in the early 2000s.
But the one across from Smothers Park and in Wesleyan Park Plaza both closed.
"We didn't own those," Toribio said. "We own this one, so we kept it. It was our original restaurant."
She said, "I'm building a patio this year. And we're going to have an old school-new school menu. My brother was born in California and he knows a lot about West Coast dishes. We'll have the things we've had on the menu in the past, but we're adding more."
For more information, check eltoribiorestaurant.com/.
270-691-7301 klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com
270-691-7301
