It is Tuesday, July 27

We are open at Yates Street from

11:30ish until 9:00 pm

(We are not currently open at the Bay St. location)

Please read below to see our approach to food and business, so you’re not surprised by our

“idiosyncrasies”…

You will have noticed that we have changed our website address from www.hernandezrestaurant.com to www.hernandezcocina.com. This is to reflect that we have never been and we will never be a restaurant in the conventional sense. We have modeled Hernande’z on our children’s great grandmother’s market stall in the central market of Cojutepeque, El Salvador.

Our Approach to the Cocina Tradition

Hernande’z is an authentic Central American cocina (translation: kitchen). We closely follow true cocina cultural traditions in a number of ways including our emphasis on scratch cooked food, and our de-emphasis of plate and glassware and water service. Basically, our whole emphasis is on the food and all of our resources go to maintaining the back of house (cocina) to be absolutely clean and wholesome on all levels. With the prices we have (also in the cocina tradition) this means that there are no more resources to distribute for front-of-house service.

One thing you can always be sure of is that Jerson and I pay close attention to how we source, prepare and package our food. We are careful that at all stages of food preparation, we remain integral to Jerson’s grandmother’s high standards.

How We Decide What To Serve

We provide you with the option to choose the most impeccably sourced food possible. Our pork is grain fed and non medicated (that’s as opposed to pork that is fed meat by products and given copious amounts of growth hormones and antibiotics in their feed). And our beef is locally raised just outside of Duncan on grassland–they live good lives under the trees. They are healthy, feeding on spent hops from local breweries, fresh water, a salt lick and a selenium supplement. That’s it–no antibiotics, no feedlots.

Furthermore, we carry theses standards to our food preparation. This means that we do not use any pre-prepared sauces or mixes. All of our food is made from scratch. We do not use microwave ovens. Our black beans are made with canola oil, not lard and our rice is not seasoned with chicken broth (so our vegetarian options are truly vegetarian!) We do not serve drinks made with high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavours. Anything on the “slow food” menu also has fresh, hand made corn tortillas made from scratch to order. That’s right, we basically embrace the food preparation techniques of the pre-modern era. In our minds and hearts, we are in Latin America in the 1930s and our food reflects this.

Basic Values: Cleanliness, Nutrition, and “Democratic Pricing”

We are focused on the need for cleanliness and purity in our sourcing and preparation and we are committed to serving you healthful, nutritious food. In addition to sourcing pure food, we have strict internal health and sanitary procedures and training in place to maintain our high standards of cleanliness and food safety. When equipment service people visit Hernande’z, they always comment on what a clean operation it is and we have a stellar record of  health safety inspections. In addition, all of our staff are trained in proper handwashing. Health and safety of our patrons is of primary importance. Nutrition comes from our food quality and the fact that our food is made with care and respect for the food and consideration for the person who will eat it.

Furthermore, we have a family, so we understand how hard it is to find good, healthy food which is also good value (…taken a family of five out to eat lately?). Consequently, we provide the absolute best quality of food possible at reasonable prices in order to make Hernande’z accessible to all. In order to maintain our prices at the level we want to (ie. affordable enough that we could have taken the family out for a treat even during our poorer days), we request that our patrons help us by not requesting any extras or substitutions from our menus. We also ask that you do not try to modify one or two of the tacos–whatever modification there is, is applied to all of them. That means that if you are considering sharing tacos with someone who doesn’t want salsa, that you order them modified for “no salsa” and order a side of salsa (at a charge of .74). Alternatively, you could just decide to order them a power bar ($3.00), a side of rice ($3.00) or a side of beans ($3.00) modified however they like and just order your tacos as you like them! Again, this has to do with the portioning of the salsa and the efficiency of the kitchen–it is necessary for us to make these cost saving decisions if we are going to maintain our democratic pricing.

No Tap Water? No Plate For My Burrito? No Extra Corn Tortillas?

Jerson and I have decided not to serve tap water in glasses or burritos on plates, we also don’t provide corn tortillas separately from tacos ( … yet! Fresh, handmade corn tortillas made fresh to order are labour intensive and they slow the grill down–so they are only available for certain dishes–and not others). These are necessary cost saving measures that allow us to keep our prices low.

Hernande’z offers an authentic experience, quality food and is excellent value at a very affordable price and we intend to keep it that way. So, we serve our burritos and tacos on paper. If you would like your meal on a plate, we will happily provide it at a charge of $1.00 per plate. We also sell bottled water for way below market price ($1.00/bottle)–in addition, you are welcome to bring your own container of water if you wish, as you might if you went to a cocina in Central America. If we have time, we will be happy to fill it with tap water!

We basically feel that Hernande’z is an extension of our own home–so when you are visiting Hernande’z, think of yourself as being in our living room. Yes, we are casual at home with our guests. You don’t have a fork? Help yourself, you know where they are. Don’t know where they are? Just ask someone. Need something, and we’re talking to another person? Feel free to gently interrupt and we’ll be happy to see what we can do to make you more comfortable. We’re here because we have designed our lives to love what we’re doing, so rest assured that we’ll always be happy to see you!

Summary

If you like good food, prepared in the traditional way from scratch with handmade corn tortillas made fresh to order by happy people, come to visit us!

However, we are not able to do more than we are set up to do, so; menu modifications, glassware and plates are not really part of the budget, or the concept. We are aware of our limitations and the difficult choices that we’ve had to make in order to maintain our values. If you are sophisticated enough to enjoy a different culture, you won’t be disappointed with our apparent lack of services; trust that we’ve thought long and hard to make the choices that we’ve made and that we’re aware of the compromises that our customers would face if we made different choices.

We are what we are: a family following in our generational tradition of creating a market stall experience (albeit in a high end urban setting!). We love good food and we are happy to share our cultural traditions with you!

Thank you for taking the time to learn a little bit about Hernande’z and why and how we do things!

Tamara and Jerson Hernandez