La Paz

Food trends will come and go, but some cuisines are perennial favorites. Mexican food is one example, and the Mountain Brook community has a longtime favorite in La Paz.

Located at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Church Street in Crestline Village, La Paz has been plating up customer favorites like creamy queso, beef nachos and grilled shrimp quesadillas for more than two decades. The tall neon sign on the corner of the building is almost as much a village landmark as the adjacent clock tower. It serves as a beacon for hungry guests to get inside to order some guacamole and a frosty margarita.

Many residents remember the restaurant housed Arial’s pharmacy before it was transformed into a south-of-the-border eatery. Manager Turner May has been with the restaurant ever since graduating from Mountain Brook High School in 2002. In discussing the restaurant’s timeless appeal he brought out a weathered photo album, which showed the construction process as well as opening night in 1991. Hairstyles and clothing choices may have changed, but many of the guests’ faces have not. Turner pointed to one photograph in particular, saying the couple enjoying those fajitas with their teenage son still comes in regularly— only now they bring their son and grandson. He said there are countless stories like this.

But there was a brief moment in the La Paz story when this tradition might not have continued. The original La Paz opened in Atlanta in 1979. They enjoyed a huge response and the owners spread the Mexican vibe, and great food to Nashville, Destin, Asheville, Charlotte, Knoxville and Birmingham. Sadly it seems, they spread themselves a little too thin and were forced to shut down many locations. The future of the Crestline restaurant was in question.

In 2008, resident and Golden Rule Bar-B-Q executive vice president Todd Becker formed The Red Mountain Restaurant Group LLC separate from Golden Rule as a way to purchase the local La Paz and keep it open. He formed a five-man team with Golden Rule Chief Executive Charles Matsos, businessman Clete Walker, Bobby Dillon of Synovus Securities and real estate developer Cannon Prickett.

But La Paz’s association with the barbecue business led many to speculate.

“I’d come to work in the morning and find notes people had slipped under the door expressing concern that we were closing or changing to a barbecue restaurant,” May said. “It was crazy.”

Eventually, the rumors were put to rest when the restaurant maintained its presence and kept customer favorites like fish tacos and three-way fajitas.

Turner said some customers aren’t familiar with the dinners for four, which are Restaurant Showcase La Paz Restaurant Showcase great for a crowd and available from the To-Go door located down the sidewalk. Any menu item can also be ordered to-go.

Having grown up in Mountain Brook, Turner recognizes what makes La Paz the important place it is.

“What keeps us in business are the neighbors and families that live close by and walk in for dinner. Weekends we see more customers from farther away, but this is still very much a neighborhood spot.”

Christiana Roussel lives in Crestline and enjoys all things food-related. Follow her culinary musings on line at ChristianasKitchen.com, Facebook (Christiana’s Kitchen), Twitter or Instagram (Christiana40).