856-782-7114 t 40 E. Gibbsboro Rd. Lindenwold, NJ 08021
A little about us
La Esperanza Restaurant is a family own and operated business. We are proud to Bring you a taste of Mexican home cooked meals as well as other Latin American Specialties. It is our family's First business venture and after years of hard work it is finally a reality and is why it bares the name of HOPE, LA ESPERANZA.
Shortly after the first year anniversary La Esperanza has received an incredible positive feedback from our customers. La Esperanza was the proud winner of Philadelphia magazine’s Best of Philly - Mexican Restaurants 2003. Plus we have many positive reviews from other local newspapers. Make sure you read the News page to find out what the media is saying about THE MOST AUTHENTIC MEXICAN Restaurant in south Jersey.
A brief History of Time, The history of our Logo
Thank you for visiting La Esperanza Restaurant. As a value customer and friend of the Family, we would like to tell you a bit more about ourselves, the Cordova Family. We are a family own and operated establishment, and the name of our restaurant stands for HOPE (Esperanza). Our name is strongly represented by the little house that you see in our menus as well as any other item that contains our name. Why is representative of the Family? Well At first glance the image was chosen with no particular intention. However, it wasn’t until the restaurant was already open that a strong resembles was found with that of another house. Below you’ll see our logo, beside it is the very first house own by our family. It was recently taken in Mexico, it sits abandon on the side of a small mountain. This is were the brothers and sisters took their first steps, learned, cry and played, more importantly, were our family began to have hope. This is the same hope that continues to push us and which unexpectedly showed it self upon another house. This same house which looked over us for so many years during our beginnings, now looks upon us once more, while we take our hope to a higher level. It this very same house which we will never forget.
Unos pocos detalles
You may be asking: “who are these guys and why are they here.” Just in case you are, here goes a little something about our family.
We are the Cordovas, our immediate family is compose of four sisters and two brothers and of course our two Parents. Our Parents are Saul and Susana Cordova, native of a small town in Puebla, Mexico, they have been in the United States a little over 25 years. They are hard working individuals with a great deal of pride and dedication on everything they do, they have a strong backbone base on Mexican culture, believes and traditional values. Most of the cooking and way things are done at La Esperanza is directly or indirectly a result of their influence. The brothers and sisters are also native to the same town as we were all born and raised in Mexico. Even thought we don’t have any formal education in the food and service industry we are all educated individuals with college degrees mostly unrelated nevertheless important. During the late 80’s and early 90’s we came to live in with our parents in a small 2 bedroom apartment in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Individually each and every one of us has a story which would make this note a bit too long, thus we’ll focus in the short version and the rolls we play at La Esperanza.
This is La Familia Cordova the basis of our small Mexican Restaurant and we believe it is the reason why our restaurant is so great. Because la familia (family) is the base of society, a good family will make a good neighborhood and a good neighborhood makes a great nation.
Saul Cordova (El Viejo): He has Work in the Restaurant business for about 25 years. During the 80’s and Early 90’s He was “The Salad man” at a Greek Diner across the federal courts in Brooklyn, he has also work in many other restaurants in New York City. His training has not being from a school but as he may put it “Life is a School and it’s up to each individual to learn from it.” He now is in charge of all preparation of our meats and some of our meals such as the Barbacoa
Susana Cordova (Doña Remedios): She never worked in a restaurant but has been cooking all her life. Her roll in the restaurant consists of making some of the specialty dishes such as the Mole Poblano. Her recipe for this dish has been in our family for generations, and it was past down to her from our town’s mole maker so this particular recipe is over 100 years old. Don’t ask for her recipe because she uses a unique form of measuring, her hand. In her own words “Un Puñito de esto, del otro……” bottom line is no one in the family can make mole the way she does.
Magdalicia Cordova (La Tarumba): She is the second oldest of the Kids, and is our secret connection to everything Mexico. She is the only one that remains in our home town in Mexico and occasionally gets our phone calls for new recipes and ideas. She also manages to try a few things in the kitchen once in a while, those all recipes get a new twist and we are always ready to give it a try.
Maricela Cordova (La Chef): She is the oldest of six, and has no formal cooking background. However, she does have on her belt about 10 years of experience working in various Restaurants and New York City, which is partially the reason why our menu is some what diverse. She is the head of the kitchen and prepares almost the entire menu. She is responsible for the quality and flavor you now find in our menu and continues to experiment and try new recipes as well as new flavors.
Claudia Cordova (La Doña): One of the two sisters on the floor. She is responsible for bringing you warm beers and cold Meals. Claudia along with the other sisters provide the hospitality and home like atmosphere which makes dinning at la Esperanza unique, because yes this is how it would be like if you were dining at our home of course minus the kids.
Norma Cordova (La Pely): The second sister also on the floor who is also responsible for the warm beers and weak margaritas. Both sister have been in the food service industry for years and worked as waitress in many restaurants. You will see her running around making a great Margarita and steeling your baby for 5 minutes, cause she cant help her self, babies are cute.
Alejandro Cordova (Chenquius): The oldest of the brothers he manages to come and visit once in a while and if you’re lucky you will see him bothering the customers or his younger brother. (The Little ones(3) keep him busy) His Philosophy we cross the Bridge when we get to it.” Of course this makes us go swinging because a lot of the times there is no bridge.
Saul Cordova Jr (el Gordito): The youngest of the Clan, Doesn’t do much but talks a lot. And if you come in for dinner on Saturday night chances are he’s told you “I’m Sorry but I need the table.” He is paid by the word which means he’ll try to come to your table and talk your ear off. And just in case if you ever have a complaint or need to slap someone around he’ll be more than happy to talk to you, and if you have a party asked him for your food he loves to party.
