June 14, 2022

The new Mexican restaurant that’s replacing Jacky’s on East Eighth Street has its heart in Tijuana.

That’s where T-Juanita Street Food and Cheladas co-owner Eric Nunez’ mom, Juanita, lives.

The “Little Tijuana” restaurant at 702 E. Eighth St. will celebrate its grand opening from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday. Singer Jenni Lopez will perform from 5 p.m. to close, and there will be special foods in addition to the regular menu.

The food on the regular menu will be a mix of cultures – something Tijuana and Sioux Falls have in common, Nunez said.

“We want to do a little bit twist of foods. The street food, like in every corner there’s a taco stand. There’s a taco stand, there’s a hot dog stand. … Every time I go there (to see my mom), we have to eat grilled chicken — because that’s like what people get — Chinese food and birria. Basically, once a week you have that. And also like the weekends, there’s a lot of sports bars there that do the micheladas with shrimp, with octopus or with clams. It’s so good.”

T-Juanita’s menu has street food with elote, or grilled corn, esquite, or corn in a cup, and tacos.

The Baja-style tacos will offer choices of fish, shrimp, spicy shrimp, vegan, chimichurri steak and al pastor, or seasoned pork.

For birria, the slow-cooked beef, diners can choose from a traditional stew or have it on a pizza or with ramen.

Five entrees feature shrimp, including a peel-and-eat bucket of them in a buttered Cajun style with potatoes and corn on the cob.

There’s also ceviche, a quesadilla, wings and a chicken chipotle sandwich.

For dessert, there are cakes, churros with ice cream, and fried plantains.

On weekdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., T-Juanita will serve a traditional Mexican lunch buffet for $10, including a fountain drink. There will be chicken, beef, rice, veggies, salsas and tortillas, Nunez said.

A cooler will offer sandwiches and wraps for grab-and-go customers.

The micheladas, which include beer and Clamato, can be simple or more like a combination appetizer and drink, loaded with fruit, shrimp and other seafood.

T-Juanita has an off-sale beer license, so Nunez is hoping to eventually offer a to-go version of the cheladas.

The restaurant offers seating for about 90 customers in two dining areas. Nunez is setting up the west side with projectors for more of a sports bar feel.  Eventually, he hopes to add patio seating on the east side of the building.

Nunez was born in California but grew up in Mexico. As a teenager, he was living in an orphanage in Acapulco and met a medical missionary team from Sioux Falls led by Dr. Brian Kidman that came down a couple of times a year.

“So I met a lot of people from this area. … I kept in touch with some of the friends that I made. So I moved to San Diego with my aunt, I went back to California. I started going to school there and the (Nels and Betty) Ekle family from Canton, they actually invited me over for Christmas one time. I’d never seen snow ever, and I just fell in love with the snow.”

He came back a few years to see friends and attend the LifeLight outdoor Christian music festival.

“So I kept on coming back and forth, back and forth until I decided to come back and stay.”

He worked at Smithfield Foods – then John Morrell & Co. – and that’s where he met Jacky Vanloh before she started Jacky’s. She would make food and bring it in for co-workers on the weekends when the cafeteria was closed. They became friends, and he eventually helped as she opened her first restaurant in 2008 – where T-Juanita is now.

Over the years, he has worked for her at other locations, most recently at the newest location in the food court at The Empire Mall.

When Vanloh decided to close the Eighth Street restaurant earlier this year to focus on the East 10th Street location, she encouraged him to start his own business.

“She was the one that actually told me: ‘You know what? Go for it. It’s closed down. You can do something with it.’”

Nunez and his partners, Paola and DJ Quintero, are leasing the building from Vanloh.

They painted the exterior bright yellow and made a few changes inside. Nunez added colorful letters outside that stand about 3-feet tall that say “Sioux Falls.”

“In Mexico, almost every town has at the entrance of their town this signage with letters like that saying the name of the town. So people just go there and take pictures. … ‘I’m in Sioux Falls, I’m in Tijuana.’ They’re called magical towns.”

The restaurant’s logo with a striped donkey also is a nod to Tijuana. “There’s this really famous donkey in Tijuana to attract tourists. What they did is they started painting white donkeys with stripes. … One of the basketball teams is even called Zonkeys, a mixture of zebra and donkey.”

Beginning Monday, the restaurant, which is dog-friendly, will open at 10 a.m. daily. It will close 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 pm. Sunday.