Solano Avenue has a new Mexican restaurant. Family-owned and -run, Anahuac held its grand opening Jan. 31.<\/p>\n
Fonda, a Spanish and Mexican Mayan tapas restaurant, occupied the space for more than 20 years before closing last year after struggling to fully recover from pandemic slumps.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anahuac is managed by Jose Rodriguez and his sister and owned by their mother. The name Anahuac comes from the ancient Aztec term meaning \u201cland surrounded by water.\u201d Rodriguez said the name comes from the Aztec word for Mexico but is also a reference to the Bay Area.<\/p>\n
Murals of Mexican figures, such as Quetzalcoatl, a feathered serpent deity, and Xoloitzcuintle, a Mexican hairless dog, decorate the walls of the restaurant.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez said the restaurant represents a new step for the family, who already operates Taqueria Talavera, a taco shop in the area. Anahuac\u2019s food is \u201ca little more elevated and upscale,\u201d according to Rodriguez.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been managing taquerias most of our lives, me and my mom, but it\u2019s (been) more like fast, casual tacos and burritos,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cThis is our first actual sit down, full bar place, so it\u2019s a learning experience for us. But with my mom in the kitchen and us running the front of the house with my sister, I think we\u2019re doing a really good job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The menu features mole poblano, made from a family recipe that includes more than 50 ingredients. Rodriguez said it is one of his favorite dishes and one he grew up eating, the recipe having been perfected by his mother over many years.<\/p>\n
He also highlighted the chile verde, the octopus ceviche tostadas with codfish eggs on top and the tortillas, which his aunt makes by hand.<\/p>\n
Among the diners on opening week was Tristan Stickel, a nearby resident who said he had been watching the restaurant\u2019s opening process for a while.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been looking forward to coming here \u2026 It\u2019s a wonderful spot, so I\u2019m so glad that they\u2019re doing this with it,\u201d Stickel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition to Anahuac, Rodriguez\u2019s mother has successfully opened and operated several other restaurants in the Bay Area, including La Mission and the previously mentioned Taqueria Talavera.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez reflected on his mother\u2019s journey as an immigrant and single parent. He described how she is still working every day at the age of 50 and continues to inspire him and his siblings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were living with my grandparents on the couch. Now she has her own house. She put both my sisters through college,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cAll that she\u2019s been able to do, it\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Solano Avenue has a new Mexican restaurant. Family-owned and -run, Anahuac held its grand opening Jan. 31. Fonda,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[81752,184,81753,81754,41839,2457,143,145,144,81755,28538,81757,81758,81756],"class_list":{"0":"post-170438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-anahuac","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-fonda","11":"tag-jose-rodriguez","12":"tag-la-mission","13":"tag-mexico","14":"tag-oakland","15":"tag-oakland-headlines","16":"tag-oakland-news","17":"tag-quetzalcatl","18":"tag-solano-avenue","19":"tag-taqueria-talavera","20":"tag-tristan-stickel","21":"tag-xoloitzcuintle"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}