{"id":13063,"date":"2022-01-08T09:12:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-08T15:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=13063"},"modified":"2022-01-06T17:24:17","modified_gmt":"2022-01-06T23:24:17","slug":"dona-carmens-restaurant-now-in-los-fresnos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=13063","title":{"rendered":"Do\u00f1a Carmen\u2019s Restaurant Now in Los Fresnos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"710\" src=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-2-1024x710.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13064\" srcset=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-2-1024x710.png 1024w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-2-300x208.png 300w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-2-768x532.png 768w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-2-1536x1065.png 1536w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-2.png 2047w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Emilio Flores<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Los Fresnos News<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do\u00f1a Carmen\u2019s Restaurant recently opened its newest location in Los Fresnos! Los Fresnos News got the pleasure to sit down with Ezequiel Garcia, who is both the manager of now TWO Do\u00f1a Carmen Restaurant locations, as well as the son of Maria Del Carmen Garcia.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The chain of restaurants was first started by Garcia\u2019s mother in 2017. It had been a dream of Do\u00f1a Carmen\u2019s to have her own restaurant. But it wasn\u2019t always easy. Her son, Ezequiel Garcia, explains that in 2001 his mother emigrated to the United States with his sister, younger brother, and himself. As a single mom, Do\u00f1a Carmen had to work hard to provide for her three kids, which led to her working long shifts at a Mexican restaurant.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nevertheless, she worked hard as a waitress for 15 years and in 2017 she opened her very own restaurant in Brownsville off of Boca Chica. Naming it Do\u00f1a Carmen\u2019s Restaurant.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since then she has opened several other locations, leaving one to each of her three grown kids. Garcia explains that the first location that his mom gave him was in Brownsville, off of Paredes Line Rd. He\u2019s been running that location since 2020.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Ezequiel didn\u2019t always think he was gonna run his own restaurant. His career had somewhat shifted focus to other things before deciding to open his own location and keep with the family business. Garcia says that it was an adjustment because prior to opening the location in Brownsville, he had a full-time job as a store manager for T-Mobile. He explains that he really got his feet wet in 2020 when he opened his first location.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI had to learn how to do eggs on the grill, how to do enchiladas\u2026\u201d He explains that it was a little nerve-racking at first and he says it was an adjustment, \u201cIt took me a good six months\u201d but says that with covid hitting it actually helped him through the adjustment period. The location was open for only three weeks before the shutdown.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It wasn\u2019t until things started picking back up that Garcia really started to have a passion for the restaurant business. He enjoyed the customers coming in and having them enjoy the great food. He also says a big part of it was his employees. \u201cWe\u2019re able to give people jobs,\u201d He says, and that Do\u00f1a Carmen\u2019s has over 60 employees across the 5 different locations. \u201cThe way I see it, 60 families are fed because of my mom\u2019s dream. That\u2019s the way I see it\u2026\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, just last month, in December, Garcia opened up a new location, right here in Los Fresnos! He expressed that it\u2019s been great hearing all the positive feedback and seeing the same faces, as well as new ones that have come to try something a little different. He states \u201cIt\u2019s good to know that people receive you well, that even though we\u2019re the new ones in town, that they\u2019re happy that we\u2019re here.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also says it was a bit of an adjustment as well, people from Los Fresnos were asking for all sorts of different things that they weren\u2019t used to. But says \u201cWe\u2019re here to adjust TO them\u201d He also says people in Los Fresnos sure do love their sweet tea! And ain\u2019t that the truth!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-3-1024x918.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13065\" width=\"312\" height=\"279\" srcset=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-3-1024x918.png 1024w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-3-300x269.png 300w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-3-768x689.png 768w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-3.png 1116w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 312px) 100vw, 312px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Towards the end of the interview, Garcia notes that he\u2019s not here to be in competition with other restaurants but to simply share Do\u00f1a Carmen\u2019s Dream with more of the Valley.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy mom always said a phrase in Spanish, \u2018El sol brilla para todos\u2019 the sun comes out in the morning for everyone.\u201d He says \u201cI think what she was trying to say was\u2026 don\u2019t try and take over, share your knowledge\u2026 And we had the example, she was successful and she shared it with us\u201d He says that now it is their responsibility to share the dream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emilio Flores Los Fresnos News Do\u00f1a Carmen\u2019s Restaurant recently opened its newest location in Los Fresnos! Los Fresnos News got the pleasure to sit down with Ezequiel Garcia, who is both the manager of now TWO Do\u00f1a Carmen Restaurant locations, as well as the son of Maria Del Carmen Garcia.&nbsp; The chain of restaurants was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[19,67,9],"class_list":["post-13063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-businesses","tag-featured","tag-latest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13063"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13066,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13063\/revisions\/13066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}