Maya Mexican

It’s all about family at this authentic Mexican eatery

Sandy Thompson

Every colorful chair, every hand-carved booth, every fresh chile tells you: This is a real Mexican restaurant. And there’s no doubt that Maya is a family restaurant.  Members of the Gonzalez family are everywhere. Greeting you at the door is mother Leticia. Father Victor —the patriarch/owner/quality inspector/kitchen manager — welcomes you with kind eyes and a firm handshake. He relies on his 24-year-old son and namesake for translation.

Daughter Nancy, who studies accounting at St. Scholastica, breezes through just long enough to pick up a quick hello. The youngest Gonzalez, 9-year-old Siji (pronounced ZEE-hee), is at school. But he’s at Maya every chance he gets, excited to put on an apron and help out.

Even grandfather Gonzalez is here, on a two-week visit from Guadalajara. Back home, he still works at the family bakery, La Original, which he started in 1934.

Since emigrating from Guadalajara, Victor has lived and worked in the northern U.S. — in a rough line from west to east (Seattle, Aberdeen, Spearfish, Fargo, Superior, Duluth). Why so far north? His 81-year-old father occasionally still wonders, but after experiencing a Lake Superior springtime, he now understands.

In 1981, Victor was a 20-year-old just three months shy of an engineering degree. But he and Leticia had their sights set on California, where many of Leticia’s family members live. After working in Los Angeles as a mechanic for several years, Victor was offered a job at a restaurant in Seattle, so the two moved.

When Seattle became saturated with Mexican restaurants, Victor’s mentors suggested he open his own restaurant — in South Dakota, of all places: “They picked Aberdeen out of nowhere and said you should go there.” After five years in Aberdeen, the Gonzalezes started and sold other restaurants — in Spearfish, Fargo, Burnsville and Superior —before settling in Duluth six years ago.

“A customer in our Fargo restaurant, a professor at Moorhead State, said you should go to Duluth,” young Victor said. “So my dad and mom drove to Duluth three times before deciding they liked it and would move here.”

 “The curious thing,” he added, “is that after that first winter, my dad couldn’t believe how pretty it is here. Now he likes the two extremes, the change of seasons. Now he doesn’t think about going anywhere else. He has made his roots here, after 28 years of moving around.”

Victor relishes his role as the patriarch at Maya. His son translates: “My father says he enjoys having the restaurant because he likes the people who work for him and he likes knowing that he’s helping other people and families, too.”

The food
Every dish at Maya is made from scratch. Back in dry storage, there are only two canned items: tomato juice and puree. Everything else is fresh. Canned beans? No way. Tamales? Only house-made dough here. Tortilla chips? NEVER out of a bag. Guacamole? From the freshest avocados that Victor selects on regular buying trips to a trusted Mexican wholesaler in Minneapolis — the same place he selects fresh Mexican oregano, tortillas, jalapenos, tomatoes and tomatillos.

Victor senior doesn’t cook anymore, “but he knows what’s good,” says his son. “Every day, he’s like a robot, he does the quality checks every single day, checking the beans, checking the guacamole, checking everything.”

In the kitchen is chef Juan Rodgriguez, who’s been cooking for the Gonzalez family since Fargo. Two others share cooking duties: Jesus Chilico is Maya’s seafood specialist and Danny Batista does all the frying and pan cooking.

Signature dishes include a rich and meaty Molcajete Soup — with steak, chicken, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms and melted cheese — and the Plato Mexicano, a sampler of all their best entrees — chile relleno, chicken burrito, deep-fried taco, steak, rice and beans.

Downstairs the restaurant seats 80. Upstairs in the bar, which has been open for just a couple of months, seats 60. Two flat-screen TVs (often tuned to soccer matches) bookend the space, which is filled with handmade chairs and handpainted tables that Victor commissioned from artisans in Tonala, Mexico.

Regulars include employees from Cirrus, the Air Force, the mall right across the street, faculty from St. Scholastica and police officers. Maya gives back to the community by sponsoring an adult soccer team at UMD and a youth team for Duluth East Select Soccer.
Young Victor says about 20 percent of Maya’s customers are Hispanic, but the number soars in summer, when many come from the Cities to work in construction. And for those who are fellow emigres, the Gonzalezes understand and offer a little something to feed the soul, too: Phone cards especially for calling family back home in Mexico.

What to know when you go

Maya Mexican Family Restaurant
1725 Miller Trunk Highway
Duluth MN 55811
(218) 722-0360
Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday - Thursday
11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday
11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday