When Paloma Ramos and her husband moved to Glendora about six years ago, they began to detect a gap in the market for a good date night spot in the area.
“When we moved there, there was a family-friendly date-night restaurant missing,” Ramos told What Now Los Angeles. “So when we would go out, we would have to go Downtown LA, which is really far, or Pasadena or Claremont. So we thought: why don’t we do our own thing?”
Now, the pair is looking to fill the void in the market by venturing into restaurant entrepreneurship themselves with the opening of Mama Canela this summer. Located in Glendora Village, the spot will open at 147 N. Glendora Ave., with a grand opening planned for July 31.
Mama Canela will feature a Tex-Mex menu, drawing on Ramos’s husband’s roots in Texas and her own family’s experience operating Mexican restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley when she was growing up. The restaurant will have an upscale atmosphere that is versatile throughout the evening. In the early evenings, customers can expect an upbeat, family-friendly atmosphere with live music, and the space will transition into a more subtle date-night cocktail spot later in the evening.
“We want people to feel like they’ve been there before — like it feels like home,” Ramos said. “We want to help our community make great memories.”
While the full menu is still forthcoming, highlights will include fajitas, homemade flour tortillas and craft cocktails.
The grand opening at the end of July will feature a celebration along with live mariachi music, courtesy of Mariachi Los Camperos. Ramos hopes this opening will be just the beginning for the brand. The team hopes to expand in the coming years.
“We do have big goals,” Ramos said. “This is our baby, our start-up. We definitely want to expand in Southern California and see our restaurant and logo in a lot more cities.”
