Central Illinois has a plethora of Mexican food restaurants, and I love them all, but Hacienda Leon is trying to stand out of from the rest. Let’s take a look at their menu and some details about the new place at 407 North Hershey road in Bloomington.
“We believe HACIENDA LEON is a beautiful, authentic MEXICAN restaurant that will remind our customers of a hacienda in old Mexico,” Partner/GM MARTIN LEON tells BNRS. NOTE—When BNRS first announced HACIENDA LEON last September, Partner JUAN CARLOS told BNRS in the first interview— “HACIENDA LEON will be something this area has not seen before”—and he was correct.
The building was gutted except for the kitchen and restrooms. Everything is new throughout the restaurant including the kitchen equipment. The restrooms now have a hacienda look. Almost all of the decorations including the light fixtures and paintings came from Mexico. The menu cover was designed in Mexico but was printed in the U S.According to MARTIN, HACIENDA LEON will have traditional Mexican menu items but with distinctive AZTEC and MAYAN influences using many of their own family recipes.He says this will be the sixth LEON family restaurant, but the first with the hacienda design.
MARTIN, JUAN CARLOS and ROBERTO LEON are the principal owners of HACIENDA LEON.
Now I believe I have eaten at EVERY traditional non chain Mexican restaurant in Bloomington/Normal, and have had the great pleasure of sampling local delights on both coasts of the country of Mexico during my 11 vacation visits. Hacienda Leon surprised and delighted me with many menu options I have not seen in the states before. The quality of the food was above average and tasty, and while the service was pleasant, we were feeling some of the opening day bumps in the road. The bar did not have all the tequila options available yet, and the waitress was still untrained on that part of the menu. We chose the Molcajete bowl (pictured below), and a Carnitas dinner to share. Lots of left overs and a pretty presentation made my husband and I satisfied customers. Next time, I can’t wait to get into their famous Camerones Jalisco (Bacon wrapped shrimp served over veggies and rice with cheese sauce) and one of their specialty fajitas plates sounds like a wonderful change.
This isn’t the whole menu, but it should be enough to give you an idea if you are ready to fight the “NEW RESTAURANT!” crowds that are common in our area.
PS….I still think Moe’s Southwest Grille Guacamole beats any other place in the world. (What do they put in that to make is so good?)
