Living Her Dream—Her Own Restaurant

By Ruth Clarke

Lila Denton, a daring, vibrant
79 year-young woman made her dream a reality recently when she turned her spacious home on Venustiano Carranza #84, into a restaurant—Tia’s Kitchen: Antojitos Mexicanos -literally, Mexican cravings. Born in Sacramento, California, she spent most of her life in Oregon, where she kept books for her family’s flooring business. She came to Mexico in 1979 and lived in Teacapán where she learned to prepare local dishes, some of which are included in her menus. In addition, she uses recipes from her friend’s mother who lives near Mexico City, so the cuisine is not necessarily typical of this coastal region. But then, Lila Denton dares to be different.
She doesn’t speak Spanish, but she seems to be able to communicate. She loves working with food, but is not professionally trained—anomalies that haven’t held her back.“I had always wanted to open a restaurant,” she says, “but never thought of having it in my home.” The restaurant idea germinated after long talks with a Mexican friend—also in the restaurant business, who said her house would make a great restaurant. She knew her bright, open kitchen would serve her well since she had taught cooking classes from it for three years. So she purchased a few more blenders, two more fridges, a couple more microwaves, and voilà, her restaurant kitchen was born, awaiting staff that appeared almost magically. Her restaurant license from Hacienda appeared 18 days after applying for it, and after being only a little more than a month in business, she has had as many as 15 people at one sitting, and several repeat customers.“When they come back, that’s a good sign,” she says, smiling. “Some people phone to make reservations and tell me they want to be surprised, not to tell them what they will be having.” She adds that most of her customers are walk-ins. The relaxing atmosphere, good music and comfortable ambience all add to the dining