Simply Mexican: Venue's popularity sizzles along with its fajitas
Posted on Friday, August 29, 2008
Gabriela Gonzalez arrived in the Northwest Arkansas area about 10 years ago from Mexico City, waiting for the right opportunity to open her own Mexican restaurant.
When a location near the corner of Pittman and Buchanan streets in downtown Prairie Grove became available in 2003, it was a right-place, right-time scenario.
"She had an idea to open her own location. This location was open and she took and it worked," Arnulfo Navarro, one of the restaurant's managers, said of Gonzalez, the namesake of Gabriela's Mexican Grill Restaurant.
Speaking on behalf of Gonzalez, who co-owns the restaurant with her son, Rene, Navarro said that she opened the venue with the simple goal of providing "a taste of Mexico."In order to make that happen, Gabriela and company added several additional aesthetics to the building, most noticeably a hacienda-style patio on the outside of the building's front filled with plants to provide ample shade.
The current building seats about 100 patrons, Navarro said. Currently, an annex is being built, which will allow the restaurant to put in four or five extra tables. The project should be finished in about a month.
The restaurant opened in October 2003 with a small following, but since that time clientele have come east across the Oklahoma border and west from Fayetteville to see what the buzz is about -- in particular that of the fajitas.
Fajita dishes range from $8.99 for the beef or chicken variety of the Burrito Fajita to $18.99 for Gaby's Special Fajitas for Two, which consists of beef, chicken, shrimp and Mexican sausage as well as guacamole and Pico de gallo. All fajita platters -- and house specials in general -- come with Mexican rice and refried beans.
When it comes to the fajitas' popularity, Navarro said there was no secret ingredient to keep customers coming back for more.
"I don't know,"he said. "We just sell them. It's our hot item."
Other hot items include the Queso Blanco ($2.95), a white cheese dip sauce that has always been one of the favored appetizers; the Carne Asada ($9.25), featuring grilled rib-eye steak and Gaby's Special Combination ($8.25) with one cheese enchilada, two tamales, one soft cheese taco, one crispy beef taco and guacamole.
Appetizers range from $2.95 for the Queso Blanco to $7.99 for shrimp quesadillas; salads from $1.95 for a dinner salad to $6.95 for a Fajita Salad with beef or chicken. House specials start at $6.50 for several items including the three-tamale dinner and a beef or chicken burrito dinner. Lunch specials are available from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday, ranging from $4.55 to $6.25.
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