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BigSur Cantina is set to open Monday on Mineral Point Road.
One-and-a-half years after a sign for BigSur Cantina went up on Madison's Far West Side, the restaurant is set to open Monday.
Jessica Escamilla said she and her father, Richard Baer, were driving along the coast on Route 1 near Monterey, California when they came up with the name. That was about five years ago, she said.
Big Sur is the rugged stretch of the famous highway between Carmel and San Simeon known for winding turns and seaside cliff views.
"We really liked the atmosphere and we stopped at a cantina there, and that was our inspiration to open this restaurant," Escamilla said.
Escamilla said BigSur will be a full-service restaurant that's family friendly. It will offer weekend brunch with bottomless mimosas, happy hour every day from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m., and will be open until midnight Wednesday through Saturday.
The restaurant at 7436 Mineral Point Road, formerly Martin O'Grady's Irish Pub, can seat 140. Escamilla owns the business with her father.
Trying to open a restaurant during a pandemic has been a new kind of adventure, she said.
It has been extremely challenging to find staff, but so far, they've hired 12, many of them family, friends and people they know in the restaurant business, and they're looking for more.
Escamilla said she and her father have worked in the restaurant industry, but wouldn't say where. "None of them are even open anymore. I mean, it was years ago."
She said her father retired from UW, but wanted to leave it at that. She said neither of them have ever owned a restaurant before.
Her husband is Julian Escamilla, the former chef/owner of Tapas Rias Spanish Restaurant & Sangria Lounge that used to be on Allen Boulevard in Middleton.
On LinkedIn, her profile says she's been the owner of Perfecto Restaurant Group from 2001 to present.
She explained that by saying she did administrative work for her husband's restaurant, and repeatedly stressed that the new venture is just her and her father. "It's separate from Perfecto Restaurant Group."
Before she began work on BigSur, Escamilla said she was a stay-at-home mom.
A highlight of the menu will be BigSur's three-pound burrito challenge, something she said her father came up with. If a customer can eat it in 12 minutes or less, it's free.
Those who win the challenge will get their picture put on the restaurant's burrito challenge wall of fame. "That's going to be a lot of fun," Escamilla said, noting she's already gotten inquiries from competitive eaters.
"It'll be a really good burrito, too," she said. "It's going to have marinated carne asada, black beans, guacamole, fries, rice. So, it'll be a delicious experience as well."
She wants the restaurant to become known for a wide array of tacos and its Betty's Blazin' fajitas, named for the slang term for a woman who surfs. The fajitas will be served flamed at the table, Escamilla said.
Another twist will be its "trash can nachos" served in little trash cans she made with her father.
Margaritas with fresh lime juice will be offered by the glass or by the tower, in a glass tower with a spigot at the bottom that provides a pitcher's worth of margaritas. She said she and her father made a handful of them during the past year and will make more as needed.
"My dad's retired and it was a pandemic. He had extra time on his hands and he just got creative," she said.
BigSur's website has a countdown until its opening date and says, "SÍ YOU SOON!" It features photos of surfboards and an old Volkswagen van on a beach and promises a menu of authentic Cali-Mex staples.
Escamilla said she's held the restaurant's lease since the spring of 2021. She said she ran into many supply chain problems, where products she ordered were discontinued, delayed or lost in transit.
"Items that would normally take two, three months to receive, would take up to a year at times," she said.
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Read more restaurant news at: go.madison.com/restaurants
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Wisconsin State Journal feature writer Samara Kalk Derby writes about the arts and brings you the latest news on the Madison area's eclectic restaurant scene. She can be reached at skalk@madison.com or 608-252-6439.
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"Customer service is just particularly difficult to be in right now," the head of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association said.
BigSur Cantina is set to open Monday on Mineral Point Road.
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