Victor and Rosa Valverde plan to carry on tradition with their new taqueria, El Pato Verde (The Green Duck), by cooking the kind of food they enjoyed when they lived
in Sonora, Mexico — a state just below Arizona.
After 14 years in the United States, most of which they spent in Oregon, the Valverdes longed for authentic northern Mexican cuisine.
That’s fortunate for University students, as El Pato Verde, which opened earlier this summer, is located on 682 East 13th Ave., next to Napoli.
“We’ll make every effort to please the customers,” Rosa said. “(It will provide) fine restaurant quality at an affordable price. It will be fine and fast.”
The name El Pato Verde celebrates the University mascot, and it is also a play on the family name, Victor said. “Val” means valley in Spanish, and “verde” means green.
The hours for the family restaurant are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
“When we make breakfast, the hours will be from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.,” Victor said.
The restaurant primarily serves lunch and dinner, but Victor hopes to have breakfast ready to serve by the end of fall.
The plans for the taqueria have been in progress for quite some time. It is located in a space that was previously occupied by Wells Fargo Bank. Victor was eyeing the lot since it became vacant, but he was waiting until time and funding were available for his dream.
“Since we came into the area, I had this idea, but I was too busy with my job,” Victor said. “I was looking for the right location, and I think we got a good one right here.”
Meal prices are on par with other local Mexican restaurants, Victor said.
The restaurant will serve freshly made flour tortillas in the tradition of northern Mexico. Corn tortillas are traditionally a southern Mexican food.
Drinks will range from 99 cents to $1.39, a bean and cheese burrito is about $2, and all tacos are $1.50. One taco might be a little harder to find anywhere else around town: “Tacos al Pastor.”
This dish requires a vertical rotisserie, as opposed to the common horizontal cooking mechanism.
“It is a very special kind of taco,” Victor said. “I know a lot of people have to drive to Salem or Portland to have these.”
The meat that fills the taco is marinated the night before and then cooked slowly on the vertical rotisserie. Pineapple chunks are piled on top, so that the flavor of the juice seeps into the meat.
El Pato Verde also plans to serve dessert during lunch and dinner hours in the late fall.
“We want to have a cake that is really good,” Victor said.
Victor said the restaurant will offer “El Pastel de Las Tres Leches,” or the Cake of the Three Milks, a Spanish treat with a unique flavor.
The family has plans to expand the drink menu as well.
“In the future, I want to have an espresso machine,” Victor said.
The restaurant seems to be not only traditional, but also a constantly changing enterprise for the Valverde family.
“Things are going pretty good,” Rosa said. “We hope they get even better when all the students come back.”
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