The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Photograph by Skye Dunlap Jorge Martinez, head chef of Mercado La Torre, uses the same family recipes first employed when the restaurant opened in 1980. Family molds tortilla shop into a top-notch eatery By Pam Marino My father, God rest his soul, loved good food, which was evidenced by his round middle. He ate at the best restaurants, but it didn't matter whether the restaurants were big or little, fancy or simple, expensive or dirt cheap, famous or little-known. They just had to serve good food. One of his favorite places to grab a burrito lunch was Mercado La Torre, a little Mexican restaurant and market at the corner of Evelyn and Fair Oaks avenues. Mercado La Torre ("tower market") is a family-owned place that started out as a tortilla factory in 1973. Husband and wife Serafin and Leopoldina De La Torre opened the factory in what is now the restaurant and market. In 1980 the family moved the factory down the street on Evelyn Avenue, where it still remains. In the old factory space, the family opened Mercado La Torre, one of the first taquerias in Sunnyvale. Both the Mercado and the factory are now owned by Serafin and Leopoldina's daughter, Celia Zambrano, and her husband, Rigo. Zambrano credits the restaurant's success to the same family recipes that have been used since it opened. Everything is fresh, she said: the meat, beans, vegetables and tortillas. "Burritos are the No. 1 seller at lunch," Zambrano said. "It's a complete meal." In addition to burritos, the restaurant serves standards like tamales, taquitos, tostadas, cheese enchiladas and chiles rellenos. On weekends the family cooks up big pots of menudo, made with tripe, and pozole, another soup made with pork. They also serve birria on weekends, a goat dish from Jalisco, Mexico, where Rigo Zambrano's family hails from. Regular burritos cost $3.65, and other menu items range from $1.40 to $5.90. The Mercado also sells prepared meat by the pound, so people can create their own Mexican dishes at home. Some of the meats include carnitas, chile verde, chicken and carne asada. The cost ranges from $6.70 to $6.99 a pound. The market sells the family's tortillas and bags of chips made from the tortillas, as well as pan dulce made by one of Zambrano's brothers at his San Jose bakery. Convenience items, spices and other foods are available. Mercado La Torre is at 614 E. Evelyn Ave., Sunnyvale. The phone number is 735-1510. Hours are Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 20, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.