Dateline: March 24, 2005

Hernandez relocates to Steakout

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Amigo’s Mexican Café is no more, but Jesus and Dora Hernandez are smiling bigger than ever in their new home at the J.D. Steakout.

After almost eight years in their old location on East US 287, the Hernandez family has moved several blocks west to the corner of West US 287 and Jefferson Street and taken over what old timers will recall was once the Country Kitchen and what more recently has gone by the name Steve’s Steakout.

For Jesus, the move was just a matter of time and persistence and reminiscent of the fact that he had to try three times to buy the house he now lives in.

“I saw how good this location was when I came to Clarendon,” Hernandez said. “I asked for it when Buddy [Ford] went out, but I didn’t try hard enough.”

He said he tried again when Steve Smith was selling the business, but the price wasn’t right. And when the restaurant became available again recently, he gave it another shot. This time he got it.

“I’m so happy and so excited, I can’t express it,” he said.

Other than a new name derived from the new owners’ first initials, there won’t be many changes right away at the Steakout. The menu will stay the same, but Hernandez does have plans to add some of his popular Mexican dishes.

“We ain’t gonna change nothing that’s here because it’s working very well,” he said. “We just want to add to it.”

For the time being, Jesus and Dora will serve Mexican dishes on special days – enchiladas on Tuesdays and taco salads on Fridays, but they plan to add fajitas or some other specialty on a different day in the near future and eventually add Mexican plates to the regular menu.

“We’re definitely going to be having my chips and salsa because people like it, and we know that,” Hernandez said.

But if you’re just dying to have an item off the old menu, Hernandez says all you have to do is ask for it.

“I’ll keep some stuff in the kitchen, and if you really want some chicken fajitas, I’ll make it from scratch.”

Hernandez sees his new restaurant as not just a new business venture or a way to make a living. For him, it’s the further culmination of a dream that started with Amigo’s. It’s something he’s wanted since he was a boy growing up in Mexico.

“I saw my mother and grandmother cooking and selling food, but they never had a chance to own a restaurant,” he said. “They just sold it at trains or wherever they could. I wish they had had the chance to come to the United States and have their dreams come true and live the American Dream like I’m doing right now.”

Hernandez says his family has always been with him as he pursued his goal.

“I always think about my family and how they pushed me and told me to work hard,” he said. “My family is very important to me. Through the years we’ve been working shoulder to shoulder all along – long hours, weekends, sometimes no vacations. We went through a lot of hard times.

“If I could give anyone just one piece of advice, it would be this: ‘Don’t be afraid of work. Hard work will pay – sooner or later it will pay.’”

Hernandez’ own hard work has indeed paid off very well, but he doesn’t intend to rest on his laurels. He says he’s going to keep working to give people good food and good service.

“I’m going to put all my heart into this, treat people like they ought to be treated, and smile all the time. I’m always smiling.”