YAKIMA, WASH. -- After more than 15 years working for Mexican restaurants throughout the West Coast, Francisco Lopez was ready for a restaurant where he could serve traditional family recipes.

That opportunity came in March 2008 when Lopez's nephew, Daniel Flores, opened Xochimilco Mexican Restaurant in Yakima. Lopez, 33, was named restaurant manager.

The restaurant at 2304 W. Nob Hill Blvd. serves dishes from various Mexican states including Oaxaca, where many of Lopez's family members are from.

Its most popular dish, he said, is Mole de Oaxaca, a chicken dish that is coated in a thick, spicy sauce. A recipe developed by Lopez's mother, the mole is made weekly, sometimes twice weekly, by Lopez's sister.

Many mole dishes sold in other restaurants are on the sweeter side, Lopez said. But his restaurant's version is spicy, combining three different chiles: mulato, pasilla and chile ancho.

Newer Mexican restaurants like Xochimilco are developing their own specialties in hopes of finding a niche that allows them to stay in business.

"We have a lot of Mexican restaurants in the Valley, but each one has original plates," Lopez said.

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About 18 percent of Yakima County restaurants serve Mexican cuisine, nearly 3 percentage points higher than in 2009, according to data from the Washington Restaurant Association. That category holds the second highest market share in the county, behind restaurants in the American general category, which includes venues such as diners and family restaurants.

With 500 restaurants countywide, nearly 100 of them are Mexican. That includes everything from national fast-food chains like Taco Bell to taquerias and high-end independent ventures.

The Mexican restaurant industry statewide has generally remained a mom-and-pop enterprise, said Anthony Anton, president and CEO of the Washington Restaurant Association.

Anton notes that one or two national chain players often tend to bring menu prices down, making it hard for independent restaurants to compete. But Mexican restaurants in this state have managed to avoid that.

Still, restaurant owners face challenges. Namely, financing.

Ariadna Waller opened Asadero 100 Bar & Grill in Selah last month. After hearing stories about other restaurants that have struggled to secure bank loans, she opted to borrow money from a good friend to get started.

"With the economy the way it is, (getting financing is) not an easy task," she said.

Xochimilco did get some bank financing, Lopez said, but owner Daniel Flores also used some collateral from an existing nonrestaurant business he runs on the west side of the state.

In addition, Flores received financial support from relatives, including Lopez, who kicked in $5,000.

Like most family-owned enterprises, restaurant owners rely on family members to help keep operations running smoothly. Many work extra hours in the kitchen on busy nights to make sure employees are providing good food and good service.

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Another key advantage for Mexican restaurants is that they have lower food costs, which allows owners more flexibility to build the restaurant's concept, Anton said.

"(You) can open a taco truck or a high-end (restaurant)," he said. With a restaurant, "you've got more flexibility, which allows more variety."

Mel Perez, executive chef of Asadero 100 Bar & Grill, corrects anyone who considers the new eatery just another Mexican restaurant.

"We're a Mexican steakhouse," Perez, 35, said, putting emphasis on the word "steakhouse."

Waller, the restaurant's owner, grew up eating steak and other grilled meats in Xalapa, a mountainous city in the Mexican state of Veracruz, located in the northern part of the country near the Gulf of Mexico.

She couldn't find those entrees in local Mexican restaurants, including ones she worked for in the last decade. Her yearning for those dishes drove her to open the new restaurant.

The name of the restaurant, Asadero, refers to the Spanish word for grill. And grilling is what the restaurant is all about. The restaurant offers a variety of grilled steaks with different sauces, including arrachera, a whole flank steak that is marinated with various spices and herbs, a preparation that is popular in the northern part of Mexico.

The Selah Mining Co. building, where the restaurant is located, added to the restaurant's concept, Waller said.

The building was originally built to make it look as though it were part of an old mine. The restaurant is completely made of wood, with no windows. The interior is darkly lit and closed in.

Some may take that as a bad thing, but for Waller, the design reminds her of the cabañas where she lived in while growing up in Mexico.

"The place is really cozy," she said.

Down the street from Asadero 100, Nubia and Ernesto Delgado recently passed their one-year anniversary as owners of Taqueria La Plazita.

Situated at 103 N. First St. in Selah, the restaurant offers a more casual setting, ideal for lunch and take-out. The restaurant's street tacos are made from recipes that Ernesto Delgado learned to cook as a boy growing up in the Mexican state of Jalisco.

The couple is new to the restaurant business. Ernesto has owned his own stucco business for years and Nubia was a stay-at-home mom.

The opportunity to open a restaurant arose when a spot became available at a shopping center on North First Street. In addition, the couple has lived in Selah for more than 11 years, so they were well acquainted with the community. They knew the restaurant's location, which is on the main drag of Selah, would be a plus for residents who don't want to drive all the way to Yakima for street tacos.

She estimates that as much as 90 percent of her customer base are regulars, a mix of Latino and non-Latino diners.

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Restaurant owners say the authenticity of their food is a key to business success, especially in Yakima County, where 42 percent of the residents are Hispanic.

"I would imagine if 40 percent of your clientele is going to demand authentic, really good Mexican food, you're going to have to deliver that or go under," said Anton of the Washington Restaurant Association. "You're going to have a more demanding clientele for the good stuff and a less forgiving clientele for something slapped together."

Authenticity is also expected from non-Latino diners.

Xochimilco's weekday lunch and dinner crowd is mostly non-Latino, while more Latinos head to the restaurant on the weekends when they have time off from their jobs, Lopez said.

Waller said that a recent non-Latino customer at Asadero 100 was surprised to see arrachera, a dish that he often enjoyed when traveling to Mexico on business.

In fact, most of the restaurant's customers so far have been non-Latino, not surprising since the Selah area is predominantly white, Waller said.

Existing operators believe more Mexican restaurants could open in the Yakima Valley.

And Lopez hopes to see more regions of Mexico represented in the type of dishes offered at local restaurants.

"Mexico has 31 different states," he said. "Each state comes with different cuisine."

Other operators believe that bringing something new will be a key survival tactic for newcomers.

"If you want to be the same (as other restaurants), there's nothing wrong with that," said Perez, the chef at Asadero 100 Bar & Grill. "But if you want to make it, you have to come out with new ideas."

* Mai Hoang can be reached at 509-577-7685 or mhoang@yakimaherald.com.