There are a couple of restaurants in San Antonio by the name of La Fonda. There’s only one, however, that’s been serving celebrities and Alamo City natives alike for 94 years – La Fonda on Main, the city’s oldest operating Mexican restaurant.
Because it’s been around for nearly a century, La Fonda on Main has seen its fair share of changes. In 1930, it began as a take-out operation run by sisters Virginia Berry and Nanny Randall. It grew to such popularity that the restaurant of today opened two years later in a vacant house right across the street. In the decades since, La Fonda has transformed again and again. MySA sat down with executive chef Victor Maldonado, general manager Suzy Melson and Lawton Family of Restaurants CEO, Trevor Lawton, to find out how.
How a prominent San Antonio restaurateur revamped a legendary eatery
San Antonio restaurateur Cappy Lawton – responsible for decades-old Broadway mainstay Cappy’s, Mama’s Cafe and Jingu House at the Japanese Tea Garden – is “very passionate about breathing life into old things,” his son, Trevor, told MySA. When he purchased La Fonda in 1997, a few changes followed, including cutting down the menu to emphasize interior Mexican cuisine over Tex-Mex and bringing the landscaped patio (which ownership seems to consider its crown jewel) into fruition, among other renovations.
Maldonado, who came aboard in 1997, said, “It was really challenging for us to introduce interior Mexican food, because at that time, interior Mexican food wasn’t popular. Tex-Mex was popular, and what people understand for Mexican food was not it.” Something must’ve stuck, as today’s menu features dishes like paella, enchiladas with braised goat and Oaxacan cheese and more, and Maldonado says the restaurant sometimes serves 1,000 guests in a single day.
La Fonda on Main, open in San Antonio since 1932, claims the title of the city’s oldest continuously operating Mexican restaurant. (Emma Weidmann/MySA)
La Fonda on Main’s menu emphasizes interior Mexican dishes over Tex-Mex flavors. (Emma Weidmann/MySA)
Despite its popularity, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant shut down for a time, but later echoed its roots by providing take-out meals, according to Melson, who came to La Fonda in 2008. They used the downtime to complete more renovations, such as the addition of a terrace and repurposing Casa Alicia, once a party room across the patio from the main restaurant, into extra dining space.
These days, La Fonda on Main continues to be a staple of Mexican food in San Antonio, not just for its history, but also its reputation. Its famous visitors include U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and San Antonio city leaders, and Melson said the Miami Heat orders take-out whenever they play the Spurs. Actor Tommy Lee Jones and singer Brad Paisley have also been regulars.
La Fonda on Main in San Antonio emphasizes family
In Spanish, the restaurant’s name evokes a cozy feel, and there is a sense that family is emphasized here. Melson says multiple couples have met and married through the restaurant, and Maldonado’s mother babysat Trevor when he was a child. The chef’s daughter now works there as a server.
One member of the restaurant’s family has been absent for a while, though she’s honored in multiple places if you know where to look. Alicia Guadiana was a longtime hostess at La Fonda on Main, having worked there from 1965 until she died in 2017. Trevor said Guadiana was “something else” – she is, after all, the namesake of Casa Alicia, and a portrait of her holding a menu, as she did for decades, welcomes guests in by the front door.
Longtime hostess Alicia Guadiana, who died in 2017, is honored across the restaurant from a portrait in the entryway and a dining space called Casa Alicia. (Emma Weidmann/MySA)
“She will know people by name – last name, the kids’ name, everything. And it was amazing, you know, like the guests not wanting to talk with nobody [else] to make a reservation, like, ‘I need to talk to Alicia.’ They wouldn’t leave the restaurant without saying bye to Alicia,” Maldonado said.
Though it’s changed in many ways since opening in 1932, La Fonda on Main strives for an air of continuity, from the additions to the building seeming to have always been there to the team’s respect for its history as a San Antonio institution. Trevor said they want to preserve “so many people’s memories – generations.”
“It’s really nice when we get into conversations with our guests about decades … of families, great-grandparents, you know, now here with the great-grandchildren,” Melson said. “And it’s even more impressive because, you know, you’ve been a part of people’s lives.”
Find it: 2415Â N. Main Ave., San Antonio, TX 78212
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays; 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sundays
This article originally published at Longtime San Antonio Mexican eatery is still sizzling after 94 years.