Rosario Lara: A Taste of Mexico in North County

Rosario Lara was able to fulfill her goal of opening a pozoleria in Vista after many years of working as a cook for other people. 
Rosario was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she lived until she was 16 years old. There, her mother, Elena, taught her how to make pozole. 
“My mom had a little stand outside our house. Since I was 10 years old, I helped her with the stand,” Lara said. “She taught me all the pozole process. In Mexico, to make pozole you need to cook the corn, and you prepare all the corn so it can be fully cooked. My mother  also taught me how to make quesadillas from scratch.” 
After many years of learning how to cook traditional Mexican food, she moved to Tijuana to help take care of her sister’s children. After a while, she and her sister moved to San Diego, where she continued to help take care of her sister’s children and also took a job cleaning houses. 
“After six years of cleaning houses, I decided to change my job even though cleaning houses was a highly paid job at that time,” she said. “I had the opportunity to work at a Jack in the Box. I worked every position in the kitchen.” 
After nine years of working at Jack in the Box, became a line cook at Harrah’s Casino. Lara worked there for 13 years as a cook, a post she recently left to open Pozoleria Dona Elena, her own restaurant. 
When she started working for a fast food restaurant more than 20 years ago, she never imagined she was going to have her own restaurant. Back then she thought she was going to open a business in Mexico. 
“I used to tell my children my idea of opening a restaurant, but I never did anything. It was until my son and my daughter-in-law saw this property when they told me they will help me to open up my own business.” 
The dream of opening a restaurant almost never happened. Rosario suffered an accident that disabled her to work. She fell and hurt her shoulder. 
“I didn’t work for five years because of my pain, I could barely be at my house, and I could barely take a shower or brush my hair,” she said. “I would have been disabled for life if it wasn’t for a surgery I underwent.” 
“Now, my children are proud of me; proud that I was able to fulfill my dream. All of my children help me, and thank God that all of my children have my back,” she added. 
Her daughter in law, Isabel Lemos, is her business partner, and her son helped her with the pozoleria’s design. Rosario didn’t have restaurant experience when she moved to the United States, she only had her high school education. Now, she owns Pozoleria Doña Elena, located at 1120 N. Santa Fe Avenue, Suite I, in Vista. Her business has only been open for a few months, but she already has clientele that travels from Oceanside and Escondido just to eat her pozole. 
“I wanted to create a different business. I didn’t want to put a taco shop like we see everywhere. My idea was to put a pozoleria like my mom did,” she said. “When we were looking for a name for the business, I thought of my mom and everything she did for us. My mother sold pozole to help raise me and my siblings; we were seven children. I wanted to name the business after her as a tribute.” 
A picture of her mother, who died 12 years ago, is on the menu, so the clientele can see who is the woman behind the pozole recipes at Pozoleria Doña Elena. 
“My mom taught me how to make pozole, enchiladas, and all the traditional Mexican plates, even tamales” she said. 
At the pozoleria there are other plates like caldo de res, caldo de pollo, and menudo but the most popular item is the pozole roj. 
At Pozoleria Dona Elena, people can also make big orders for family or business parties. In the future, they want to open more branches to reach more people. 
“We have had a good response from the community with the pozoleria. The clients love that our pozole is home style,” she said. “It can be tiring to make everything from scratch every day, but that’s why it tastes better.” 
Rosario Lara’s next goal is to create a business that she can leave behind for her two daughters and one son. Rosario’s youngest daughter even likes to cook just like Rosario does and is always asking for recipes.