My wife and I decided to take off one warm Saturday to just go do and see around Southeast Iowa. We pulled into Columbus Junction, IA around 1:30 p.m. and decided to find some place to get something to eat. Columbus Junction has a large Hispanic population and there are many Mexican restaurants in its downtown area. We really didn't know where to go, so we just parked our car and walked into the first place we came to. It turns out that it was a combination restaurant and bakery called Santa Ana.
Eustaquio Vergara grew up in Puebla, Mexico and immigrated to New York City in 1974. He worked in a bakery in New York City for a number of years. In the early 90's, he came out to Iowa on a bus to visit relatives who were working in a local packing plant. Realizing that the way of life in Iowa was less hectic and the cost of living was precipitously lower than New York City, Vergara - along with his wife, Rosa - moved out to Iowa in 1995. When he stepped off the bus, he had all of his worldly possessions packed in a suitcase and $10,000 that he had saved up. With the money, the Vergara's opened Santa Ana as a bakery and a restaurant that serves lunch six days a week.
After parking out front on Columbus Junction's Main Street (see map), we walked into Santa Ana and Eustaquio and Rosa Vergara were behind the counter which was part a pastry display case and a flat top bar-style counter. The restaurant part of the place featured a handful of tables along with Mexican soft drinks available on shelves.
The small place was empty so I asked if they did lunch. "Lunch," Eustaquio asked back to me. "Sure, we do lunch. Anything you want. We make it for you!" And he pointed out the menu board along the far wall of the place.
And the menu had a little bit of every kind of Mexican-style foods along with about every kind of meat that are found in truly authentic Mexican restaurants. Tacos, burritos, chimichangas, flautas, tamales and fajitas were available. For meats, they had chicken, pork, ground beef, steak, chorizo - just about anything I could think of that went on a taco.
My wife and I ordered up a couple tacos each and went to sit down at one of the tables. Rosa brought out a small basket of fresh tortilla chips and a medley of salsas that ranged from mild to burn-your-face-off hot. She pointed out the two salsas that she said were the hottest. I tried a bit of one of the two and if that was milder of the two, I didn't want to try the other one. Wow! It was hot. But they had a great salsa verde that we used up rather quickly.
Eustaquio brought our tacos out to us. My wife went with a chicken taco and a carne asada (steak) taco. Fresh chopped cilantro and chopped onions topped the tacos. The tacos were larger than we normally see at Mexican places like Santa Ana and we were glad we only went with two instead of the three we had debated getting. My wife was very happy with the chicken taco, but she thought the steak taco was sort of overcooked.
I went with a barbacoa beef cheek taco and a pork carnitas taco. The barbacoa beef cheek taco was fabulous. It was tender and tasty - and there was a lot of it on the taco. I poured the rest of the salsa verde onto the barbacoa taco and the overall taste was just outstanding. However, I felt the pork carnitas taco was sort of a disappointment. I'm guessing the pork had been cooked days in advance and was warmed up when ordered. It featured pork chunks that were a little tough to chew and sort of lifeless in taste. I really wished I had gotten two of the barbacoa beef cheek tacos as those were really delicious.
While we were having lunch, we noticed a couple different people come in to pick up cakes that the Vergara's had baked earlier in the day. They looked pretty good and were very ornate. After lunch, we took a quick look at the pastry counter to check out what they had. Actually, it was a mix of both Mexican pastries - such as empanadas - and American pastries - such as fruit Danish rolls. Eustaquio said to us, "I just made a tres leches cake. You want some tres leches?"
He went into the back room and came out with a large cake and started to cut into it. We really couldn't say no to him as he was slicing into the cake. He got a piece for us to go.
And the tres leches cake was also out of this world. It was moist, spongy and it was so rich. We're glad we only got one piece of it because the cake was so filling. I haven't had a good tres leches cake in a long time - it usually gets mushy if it sits for awhile. But this cake was firm, yet moist and tasty.
And for all of that, the bill came to $12 bucks - and that included 3 bottles of water we got to go along with our meal. I was absolutely shocked at the price - so shocked that I forgot to leave a tip with the Vergara's. We just couldn't get over how much food we got for the money. Santa Ana Bakery and Restaurant isn't fancy, it's not very big, and it's just basically Eustaquio and Rosa working in the place and that's it. While we thought our barbacoa and chicken tacos were exceptional, the same couldn't be said about the carne asada and the carnitas tacos that we got. That meat was overcooked, dry and tough. Still, our experience at Santa Ana was overly positive and I wouldn't hesitate going back if I ever make it back down toward Columbus Junction - even if it's just for some pastries or a piece of tres leches cake. And if I do, I'll be sure to leave a tip.
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