Mas Margaritas owners open La Casita Breakfast Cafe, Mamacita Taco Pub in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — One of the most popular categories of locally owned, independent restaurants in Cedar Rapids is finding diversity in its growth, with two new openings.

Mas Margaritas owners Haile Duncan and Ozzy Aguirre, who opened their first restaurant together in northeast Cedar Rapids in early 2020, are now decidedly restaurateurs with their pair of openings next to each other on First Avenue.

La Casita, opened in December, serves a full menu of authentic, traditional Mexican breakfast options at 836 First Ave. NE — a relatively rare find in Cedar Rapids. Mamacita Taco Pub, which opened earlier in March next door at 834, offers a taqueria with benefits.

The former fills one vacancy left by the closure of Riley’s Cafe’s Cedar Rapids locations in October 2021. The latter takes the place of Moose McDuffy’s.

Although these two restaurants join dozens of other Mexican restaurants in Cedar Rapids, they bring something new to the table.

La Casita Breakfast Cafe

At La Casita, a breakfast-oriented menu offers some of the city’s first glimpses at a robust, traditional Mexican breakfast, with special creations from Mexico City-born Aguirre, 34, who has been in Cedar Rapids for more than 20 years.

Now, you can get Huevos con Chorizo, Chilaquiles (fried corn tortilla chips simmered in salsa with eggs on top), and Chorizo Hash, alongside a bevy of inspired benedicts, skillets and omelets.

Dishes like the Chorizo Hash — American fries with chorizo and egg on top — offer not just Mexican breakfast, but items other Mexican restaurants don’t have here yet. Other top sellers, like breakfast chimichangas filled with breakfast meats and served on a bed of hash browns, have popularized a trend that subsequently picked up in other restaurants.

“We had always wanted to do breakfast at Mas (Margaritas), it was a thought in the back of our minds,” Duncan said. “We had some really good ideas.”

Although they were apprehensive about expanding to a new side of town, they jumped in with both feet and opened not one, but two new restaurants next to each other. With Mas Margaritas, Mamacita Taco Pub and La Casita offer a robust menu for breakfast, lunch, cocktail hour and dinner.

“I didn’t realize how much breakfast you can do that’s traditional,” said Duncan, 25. “I’ve learned a lot as far as traditional dishes — Chilaquiles, Huevos con Chorizo — and I think a lot of people have enjoyed getting to know that culture more, as well.”

Vegans also can enjoy a rare selection of plant-based options at this Mexican restaurant. A side menu of sweet confections with French toast options and churro pancakes offer a well-rounded dining experience.

Brunch goers can take delight in a full menu of alcoholic beverages, including six flavors of mimosas and signature breakfast margaritas from the owners who have built a brand on their margaritas — particularly Aguirre -- with a heavy hand on the tequila blended with fresh citrus.

“He just knows how to blend the flavors of different liqueurs and has that special touch,” Duncan said. “We still have people who (insist) he makes their margarita.”

Mamacita Taco Pub

Mamacita’s menu brings a robust selection of tacos, many of which are not available at Mas Margaritas, or are only available on a limited basis.

Alongside the traditional tacos and quesadillas now as familiar as the hamburger in American culture are a selection of entrees that will invite American palates to explore a little bit more — pollo con arroz, tortas, huarache (a fried masa cake topped with meat, beans and accessories), and sopes.

Aguirre created the menu based in part on things that make his family feel at home.

For the hesitant who are tagging along with more adventurous diners, the menu also offers burgers, wraps and salads that are more than an afterthought.

Mamacita offers several vegan options, as well.

Refreshing the interior design

Like the brand of Mexican food the owners have built, the interior design at both new restaurants conveys a unique sense of warmth for a type of food that is, technically, foreign. A walk into either new ventures brings a level of familiarity to anyone who has seen the interior of Mas Margaritas.

At La Casita, the eyes are immediately drawn to the lush bed of flowers hanging from the ceiling in the small space, which also is accented by a signature aqua blue color behind the bar.

Mamacita Taco Pub has been reshaped mostly with a paintbrush and Duncan’s artistic skills, making the new restaurant just one more to add to her portfolio as an amateur interior designer.

The dark wood paneling at Moose McDuffy’s has been transformed with a teal paint and the walls have been covered in murals of iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and Cantinflas, the “Charlie Chaplain of Mexico.”

Goals set on expansion

For the couple who met working at La Cantina and have been in the industry for a number of years, their eyes are set on expansion.

Aguirre has worked every role in the industry from dishwasher to owner. Duncan has six years of experience — unusual given the industry’s turnover rate.

As they mull the possibility of another Mas Margaritas location, the goal is better reach, not just more locations.

“The goal is to be able to serve more of the community in Cedar Rapids,” Duncan said.

Comments: (319) 398-8340; elijah.decious@thegazette.com