Nevada City Advocate - A free news & entertainment Newspaper Serving Nevada City & Greater Nevada County: Amigos making new friends at its Nevada City location

Amigos making new friends at its Nevada City location
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Pat Butler on Mar 19 10:20am
 
By Pat Butler
Nevada City Advocate
After several months in downtown Nevada City, Enrique and Daniel Guerrero say
business is on the upswing at their Mexican restaurant that moved here after 14
years in Grass Valley.
“It’s starting to pick up now. It’s doing well now,” said Enrique, the
57-year-old owner and executive chef of Amigos & Company.
The reason for the increase in business is primarily twofold, he said while
taking a break recently from his work in the kitchen. The restaurant’s Grass
Valley customers are returning to the fold and the business is attracting new
customers in Nevada City.
The brothers decided to move the restaurant after a new landlord wanted to
increase their rent by 300 percent, according to Enrique. At about the same
time, the brothers said they entered into discussions with Richard Buckley of
Nevada City, who owns the space at 101 Broad Street that used to be home to Dos
Banditos.
While Daniel said it was difficult to leave Grass Valley, the new location is
larger, has a deck that faces Deer Creek and the restaurant offers live music
four nights a week compared to once a week at the old location.
But while the scenery is different and the music more frequent, the
restaurant’s commitment to traditional Mexican food will never change, the
brothers say.
“We’re so traditional that we even use the correct spelling of tamale on
our menus,” said David, before grabbing a visitor’s pen and writing the
correct spelling, tamal, on a piece of notebook paper.
The Guerreros were born in Dolores Hidalgo in the Mexican state of Guanajuato,
where their mother owned a restaurant. Enrique said he started to learn to cook
about the time he could see over the counter.
Now, he’s committed to cooking the same food he grew up eating.
“I like to use the old recipes and try to make them better,” said Enrique,
who owns the restaurant with his wife, Katherine. The couple has been married
for 25 years.
It was in the 1990s while working as an installation expert in Grass Valley
that he decided to open his restaurant.
“Every weekend I was looking for a place to eat good Mexican food. Then I saw
my chance,” he said of an available place in Grass Valley.
Enrique and Daniel say the restaurant prides itself on using fresh ingredients
in what they describe as their unique and traditional Mexican cuisine. Chile
rellnos are the most popular item on the menu, they say.
Enrique is also not shy about sharing his recipes, saying that is the chef not
the recipe that makes the meal.
“Everybody knows these recipes in Mexico,” he said. “I just try to make
them as close to the original as I can.”
Amigos recipe for Aztec or tortilla soup
Ingredients
This recipe serves four. Enjoy
4 chicken breasts
5 bay leaves
½ yellow onion
5 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano
Few sprigs of cilantro (stems and leaves)
1 small can diced tomatoes
3 oz can Chipotle peppers
Tortilla strips- deep fried
Cubed Jack cheese
1 avocado
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Cooking Instructions
1.     Boil chicken breasts with onion, bay leave, fresh garlic, cilantro and
oregano until chicken is done and a nice broth develops. Remove the chicken and
save the broth.
2.     Blend the diced tomatoes with chipotle peppers, oregano, cilantro, fresh
garlic and yellow onion with vegetable oil in a large pot or Dutch oven and
bring to a boil to make a sauce.
3.     Cut chicken breasts into cubes and place in the cooked sauce. Add the
chicken broth and return to boil for about 10 minutes.
4.     Place deep-fried tortilla strips and cubed jack cheese in a bowl and
ladle the cooked soup on top. Garnish with a fresh slice of avocado.