Family is important at Las Palmas Mexican Cuisine, a courtesy extended even to the customers. “Our motto is “Nuestra casa es su casa”—“Our house is your house,” Luis Rodriquez, Jr., says. “Everybody that comes in, when you’re dining with us, you’re part of our family.”

Fittingly, the restaurant has a homey feel, with an abundance of lush potted plants draped across the shelves and cornices. “My dad and my wife Alma take care of them,” Luis Jr. explains. “One split-leaf philodendron has been here since we opened.”

Luis’s parents, Luis Sr. and Margarita Rodriquez, purchased Las Palmas in 2002, “after my sister Lupe and I had graduated from high school in Grants Pass,” he says. “They told us, ‘Hey, we can’t do this by ourselves. Will you guys help us?’”

The answer, of course, was ‘Yes,’ and the family business was born.

“I felt it was a very big responsibility,” Luis Sr. admits, “even though I’d already worked in the restaurant business for eighteen years. It seems to have worked out—and we’re still working on it!”

Luis Jr. served as lead cook for ten years. “I learned from some great cooks,” he says. One, he notes, from the Baja California coastal city of Mazatlan, taught him the numerous seafood choices on Las Palmas’s extensive menu. “And a Honduran gentleman taught me how to cook many other things, dishes from Jalisco and Colima. Our food has influences from all over Mexico.”

Ask Luis about his favorite dishes and his face lights up. “I love the shrimp enchiladas. That’s the first thing I learned to cook!” The dish features shrimp sautéed in butter, garlic, and white wine. Other popular items include Pescado Entero Frito—a whole red snapper, lightly floured and fried, served with rice, beans, salad, and tortillas. “The Hispanic community comes in for that,” he says enthusiastically. “And I recommend our Parridilla Mixta, with carne asada, pollo asado, and our homemade chorizo.”

Several years ago, Luis shared his cooking expertise with Lupe’s husband, Miguel Rivera, so Luis could help with managerial responsibilities. “Now our parents don’t have to be here all the time. Lupe and I can run the show.”

That particular “show,” at least. Luis Sr. happily reports that the family has a new enterprise: The Las Palmas Food Truck. “We’re getting it ready,” he says. “It will be on the road this summer.”

Their philosophy, however, hasn’t changed. “We’ve always run Las Palmas as a family,” Luis Jr. says. “Even now, for every decision that has to be made, we huddle and make it together.”

LAS PALMAS MEXICAN CUISINE
210 East California Street • 541-899-9965
Sunday-Thursday 11:00am-9:00pm
Friday-Saturday 11:00am-10:00pm