The brother-and-sister team of Nelly and Romulo Mendoza has been a fixture of Paloma Blanca for more than nine years.  “I didn’t speak any English when I started here,” admits Romulo.  “Now I feel like I’m fluent and I can truly say this is my home.  Everyone here is family.”

About four years ago when Blanca Aldaco chose to focus solely on her downtown restaurant, new management took over this Alamo Heights staple.  “We didn’t want to completely change the menu or the food because it’s so good and very popular,” recalls Romulo, now assistant general manager.  “But we added our own family’s touch through a few new menu items and the specials.”

“We really want to bring a piece of interior Mexico to San Antonio.  It was hard for us to find authentic Mexican food when we first moved here.  So now we’re really aware of keeping it authentic for other people from Mexico and for Americans who have traveled through Mexico and know what the food there is really like,“ he explains.

Natives of Veracruz, the Mendozas grew up eating a lot of seafood.  And being good children who appreciate their mother’s cooking, they ask her to teach her recipes to the cooks at Paloma Blanca whenever she visits.  “We really missed her food so when we had an opportunity to share those flavors with our customers, we did it,”  says Romulo.  “The Veracruz sauce on our grilled red snapper is my mother’s recipe.  It’s chunkier than in other restaurants.”  Other favorites like Ceviche, Shrimp Chile Relleno and Shrimp Enchiladas in a white wine cream sauce make them feel closer to home.

The Mendozas want Paloma Blanca to feel like home to everyone, inside and out.  Romulo has hung his colorful abstract paintings throughout the restaurant.  And the patio in front, which could suffer from being right off the parking lot, would fit well in any hacienda.  “You hide behind the trees and plants and listen to the sound of the two fountains and simply forget the noise and traffic beyond,” he says.