Azul Agave owner Luis Valadez and server Tracy Magmer
Photo: Gail Burnett
By Gail Burnett
On a wall next to the bar at Azul Agave, Sanford’s newest Mexican restaurant, is something very un-Mexican: the stained-glass Jerry’s Diner sign, a reminder of the American diner that occupied the space at 6 Lebanon St. from 1954 to 2011.
That’s no oversight, says owner Luis Valadez. “He built a community,” he said of Jerry’s founder and longtime owner Jerry Arsenault. “That’s what we try to do as well.”
Azul Agave opened May 13, about five months after Valadez and his business partner bought and started working on the small downtown building. It’s open daily from 11 am to 8 pm offering a variety of dishes, most from the area around Valadez’s native city, Guadalajara.
As the name suggests, there’s a heavy emphasis on the agave plant, source of tequila in all its forms. The Guadalajara area is ground zero for agave, especially azul, or blue, agave. One of Valadez’s specialties is tequila lime chicken, which he compares to a fine French or Italian dish, with tequila substituting for wine and chile for other spices. Another dish that he describes as characteristic of his area is also a customer favorite – chile rellenos, large chiles stuffed with cheese and encased in a light batter.
Valadez said he’s had some questions from patrons to the effect of “Why open a third Mexican restaurant in a small town? Why not something new?” His answer is that this is the cuisine he knows and loves to cook and share with others.
Besides, “where I come from, there’s about a thousand Mexican restaurants in a mile radius, and everybody’s successful.” Valadez has nothing but praise for Guerrero Maya and El Mexicano, the other two Mexican places in town.
“I think there’s love for everybody,” he said. “I’m not here to replace anybody, I’m here to share a passion. We love our food and we love our families.”
Another question he sometimes gets is “Why open in a place with no parking lot?” He understands that frustration but points out that there’s ample parking nearby at Main Street Marketplace (formerly the Midtown Mall), and except on Sundays there are often some spaces directly across Lebanon Street, in front of the Sanford Unitarian Universalist Church.
“I don’t have the best parking,” he admits, “but I have the best service, and people will come.”
They always did come to Jerry’s Diner, after all.
The post Sanford Says ‘Bienvenido’ to Azul Agave appeared first on Sanford Springvale News.
