The buzz builds as locals count the days until the grand re-opening of Manny’s, a beloved purveyor of fine Mexican food in the Santa Ynez Valley. Much to the delight of friends and fans, the Tovalin family is back in the culinary game.
On Thursday, July 1, the new Manny’s opens its doors in Denmarket Square, on a well-traveled corner in Solvang. With plenty of indoor and outdoor seating, as well as a dinner theater upstairs, the restaurant will offer tasty food, affordable family fun, and, in the not-too-distant future, live performances.
“We want to make this the restaurant that we’ve always wanted to do,” said owner Fernando Tovalin, who will run the eatery with his older brother, Jessie, as manager.
“And our dad, Manny Tovalin, Sr.,” he added, “is going to be here to make sure we don’t screw it up. He’s excited because it’s always good for a dad to see his kids do what he taught them.”
Tovalin, 36, looks forward to expanding the business to take advantage of the multi-purpose site and to offering locals “something new every year.” He admitted that his gifts lie with organization and not cooking, so his brother will supervise and train the kitchen staff.
“We make a good team,” Tovalin said, “and we’ve enjoyed working together for a long time.”
Tovalin describes Manny’s food as prepared in a “slow-cook style” perfected by his father, who has been running restaurants for 40-odd years. In fact, the senior Tovalin, 71, developed most of the recipes that have made Manny’s famous.
Specialties include carne asada made with charbroiled New York steak, and Platillo Mexicano, a popular dish featuring a crab enchilada, soft chicken taco, and beef enchilada that combine the colors of the Mexican flag. Adding a splash of green to burritos, tortilla chips, and enchiladas is Green Machine, Manny’s signature salsa verde.
“The locals named it,” Tovalin revealed. “It’s a jalapeno and pepper hot sauce that my dad put together. It’s actually not that hot, but people love it because it actually has taste.”
For dessert, Tovalin recommends fried ice cream, an unusual treat made with vanilla ice cream that’s been rolled in a crunchy batter, quick fried, and topped with caramel and cinnamon.
“We never want to count the calories in that,” Tovalin said, “but it’s fabulous! It’s made delicious, that’s all people need to know.”
Open for breakfast, Manny’s dishes up fruit pancakes, French toast, Danish sausage, and biscuits and gravy, as well as huevos rancheros and machaca. Lunch and dinner feature hamburgers, sandwiches, nine different salads, Mexican combination plates, and more than two dozen house specialties, from tamales and carnitas to chicken en mole and camarones rancheros.
Tovalin and his siblings all worked at their father’s restaurants, and so will the family’s youngest generation. On weekends, Tovalin’s 13-year-old son, Jacob, will make food deliveries by bicycle, and his niece, Claudia, 19, and nephew, Adrian, 16, will help out as well.
“We really want them to suffer just as much as we did,” Tovalin said with a laugh.
Tovalin’s father, who opened successful restaurants in Bishop and Red Bluff, Calif., discovered Solvang on one of his many road trips. He founded Manny’s in 1989, and after he retired, Tovalin and his brother ran the business until they sold it in 2003. The restaurant closed about four years later.
Originally located in a quiet corner at the end of Atterdag Road, Manny’s reigned among residents and visitors alike as a friendly place where staffers often greeted customers by name.
“We had a very good clientele,” Tovalin said, “people who’d come in two, three times a week. The locals called it the ‘Cheers’ of Solvang.”
And by tapping into 130 years of combined restaurant experience, that’s just the kind of place the Tovalins hope to recreate in their new location.
“The thing we missed most,” Tovalin said, “is the camaraderie that we had with so many people. That was a lot of fun for us.
“Anybody can get a customer,” he continued, “but we’re looking for clients, people who come in regularly, people we can get to know, just like we used to.”
As for the lively buzz surrounding Manny’s reopening, the Tovalins are grateful, because they haven’t done any advertising so far.
“We were actually wondering what the opening was going to be like,” Tovalin said. “But word spread quickly, it became not ‘How are we going to attract people?’ but, ‘How are we going to be ready for all these people?’
“That’s a nice problem to have,” he added with a grin, “and we’re enjoying having the local people behind us. It’s going to be great!”
Manny’s will open July 1 and is located at 1693 Mission Dr. (corner of Mission Dr. and Alisal Rd.), Solvang, 691-9137. Hours are daily 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Closed Tuesdays. The website, MannysofSolvang.com, will be up soon for online ordering.
Wherever she goes, everyone knows K. Reka Badger’s name. Give her a shout out at
rekabadger@hotmail.com.
This article appears in Jun 24 – Jul 1, 2010.