Ruby Mijares, owner of Fudge-n- More spoke to us about how she has been able to keep the family owned business firm and traditional for her customers, in this harsh economy.

For ten years she has been dedicated to provide to her customers good quality deserts for any occasion. Favorites include chocolate covered strawberries, brownies, and of course, fudge.

Ruby has managed to keep her business running with a simple motto: “a day at a time”. She has dedicated to make her place feel like home; which it’s evident when you enter her store, located at 914 N. Mesa St: a small locality, filled with motivating cards and figurines, showing also a lot of Miner Pride. Ruby makes people feel welcome and special by treating everyone as part of her family. “I think about what I’m going to give them [her customers]”, she said.

In the background, her older son helps her with the making of the treats. “My other children help me when they can”. She also keeps photo albums of most customers that enter the locale.

She spoke to us about an incident that shows her dedication to her customers. A fire broke out in a building in the same street as her store. The fire department closed the block and prevented her to fulfill a major order requested for that day. After getting permission from the fire chief to enter her building, she was able to get her kitchen utensils and meet the order in time. “I never reject an order no matter how big”, Ruby says proudly.

To satisfy the best seller item on her menu, the chocolate-covered strawberries, she buys the strawberries anywhere she can. These are sold year round, however, they are most popular around Valentine’s Day, one of the strongest, if not the best time for her business.

Ruby invites us to feel the passion she puts in her place to make her customers feel welcome and part of a family

Challenges and Opportunities

Opening a business often requires a grueling effort to overcome various barriers (cultural, generational, gender) that might exist between the customers and the product. When Tara Thai opened, it was no exception: Bringing Thai cuisine to a Southwestern city was no easy task. Sai Pituk, owner of Tara Thai, believes one of the greatest challenges of opening a Thai restaurant in El Paso was overcoming the regional stereotypes towards Asian food.

According to Pituk, the El Paso community tends to associate Asian food with cheap, mediocre-tasting buffets. However, once the El Paso community became aware of the concept of fine Thai dining, the restaurant’s challenges turned into its opportunities. Pituk’s restaurant is one of the only places in the city where you can enjoy high quality Thai cuisine.

Bringing El Paso the Best of Thai

Tara Thai came to El Paso about eight months ago to help change cultural misconceptions about Thai food. Although the restaurant prices are higher than most of its competitors, Tara Thai justifies the cost by offering an exclusive Thai experience. Tara Thai brings a genuine Thai culture by importing most of its fresh ingredients and by only employing Thai chefs.

Management personnel at Tara Thai have used several different mediums of advertising, such as radio commercials, billboard ads, and newspaper ads, to get the word out. Tara Thai chefs have also participated in TV segments that feature the preparation of traditional Thai food. With that said, Tara Thai believes that “word of mouth” has been its most effective marketing tool.

Success and Growth

El Paso Magazine recognized Tara Thai as 2009 Best El Paso Restaurant. As if this was not enough to denote a successful start for Tara Thai, urbanspoon.com and tripadvisor.com, two online sites dedicated to touristic destinations reviews, feature an impressive 90+ reviews for Tara Thai. Eighty-percent of the reviews are positive. As for the negative reviews, Pituk has an explanation.

“The bad reviews must be from competition because this place has the best service and best Thai food in town. Competition knows this,” Pituk said. “Believe me when I say that Tara Thai is the real deal. From the ambience to the food itself, Tara is by far the best Thai food one can get in El Paso or anywhere in West Texas.”

Hard work and effective marketing have allowed Tara Thai to begin looking into expansion. Tara Thai plans to open a hip and modern non-alcoholic bar where customers will be able to enjoy savory artistic plates made by the process molecular gastronomy.

Tara Thai Alchemy: Science in the Kitchen

Imagine opening a cookbook and encountering an ingredients list that includes rare chemicals like methyl cellulose and locust bean gum. For Tara Thai, this is not an unusual occurrence. Shortly after opening the restaurant, the Tara Thai team sought to introduce an innovating concept that will change the way El Pasoans view food: molecular gastronomy.

Molecular gastronomy is a cooking technique  that produces an artistic blend of science, flavor and art. Tara Thai is one of the first businesses to bring molecular gastronomy to El Paso. Very few cities nationwide offer this type of cuisine. Plates that utilize molecular gastronomy usually cost in the range of $90-$120 in large cities like Chicago and New York. Once Tara Thai introduces this concept in El Paso, locals will be able to taste it for much more accessible prices starting at $45.

Address: 2606 N. Mesa

Phone: (915) 533-1300

Hrs. of operation:

Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Friday & Saturday 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Student Discounts: 10%

Out of the six candidates that are running for Mayor of El Paso, four attended and laid out some of their proposals on how to make the city progress and prosper over the next four years.

Among the attendees were incumbent Mayor John F. Cook; Gus Haddad, a local businessman; Carlos Rivera, a former farm-worker and Air Force veteran; and Lee Mendez, a UTEP student and Navy veteran.

Each candidate did a good job presenting themselves to the UTEP students and to those that live in the surrounding community who took the time to attend. With that said, none of the candidates did enough to completely separate themselves from their opponents.

The big question going into this race is not whether one of Cook’s opponents will be able to beat him outright, but whether or not any of his opponents can force a run-off. A run-off occurs when none of the candidates can garner more than 50% of the votes, which then leads to another election where only the top two candidates compete.

The latest polls have shown Cook is close to that 50% mark that he hopes to achieve, yet at least one-third of El Pasoans remain undecided.

To those who might believe that a run-off is just delaying an inevitable Cook re-election, recent history proves otherwise.

Cook himself benefited from a run-off back in 2005, when then-Mayor Joe Wardy received the most votes but did not clear the 50% “safety line”, allowing Cook (as 2nd-highest vote-getter) to remain in the race. The one-on-one matchup and extra time to campaign before the run-off election proved to be more valuable to Cook than to the incumbent, as Cook came out on top after the final votes were counted.

With all this in mind, Cook, Haddad, Rivera, and Mendez took the stage at the Cinema on Monday, and the following is an assessment of their performances.

John F. Cook

Cons: Cook’s campaign organization at the event was very poor. While the other candidates had supporters present and shook hands with whoever approached them, Cook had no posters up (if he did, I did not see them) and did not spend as much time in the lobby as his opponents did. Also, while all the candidates criticized the status quo as being inefficient and out-of-touch with voters, Cook did very little in regards to refuting these claims, something he must do in the coming weeks so as to not be viewed as complacent.

Gus Haddad

Pros: Out of all the candidates present, he came off as the most “people-friendly”. While two other candidates also shook hands with the attendees in and around the Cinema, Haddad was the most engaging, making the majority of those with whom he met feel as if they held a true stake in this election. When on stage, he also made it clear that he played a key role in most of the initiatives that Cook was taking credit for, such as the 2000 Quality of Life issue.

Cons: The most controversial question of the day was the one concerning drug legalization, and in an auditorium full of students who made it evident through cheers and jeers (according to the direction that the discussion was headed) that they smoked marijuana, Haddad did not give a concrete yes or no as to whether he supported the idea. He is currently in second place behind Cook in most polls, and at some point, Haddad will have to answer tough questions such as this one and show that his views will not be swayed by a boisterous audience if he wishes to push Cook to the limit.

Carlos Rivera

Pros: The most energetic of the candidates, he constantly involved the audience when he was at the podium through questions which asked for feedback through a show of hands. He promised to give everyone in El Paso “a seat at the table”, making the city government more easy-to reach.

Cons: At times, it appeared that Rivera and Mendez were saying the exact same thing. In fact, at one point, both candidates stated that “the culture must change” at the city government, seemingly word-for-word of what the other candidate stated. If Rivera is to change his current poll fortunes, he must show that he and his ideas are fundamentally unique from the rest of the field.

Lee Mendez

Pros: The most eloquent speaker, and by far the most quotable. He gave one-liners like “We cannot ask the poor to subsidize the poor”, and “the fruits of NAFTA come at a price.” Though the other candidates are graduates of UTEP, Mendez had the advantage of being the only one currently enrolled at the school, thus sharing a noteworthy link with most of those in attendance.

Cons: The least politically experienced, Mendez does not have a record to fall back on. This made it critical for Mendez to fully outline his plans while in office, and while he said many things that made sense, the substance behind those ideas was not there. Mendez spoke of keeping the city’s intellectual property in El Paso, but he did not outline how exactly he would facilitate this. A detailed plan of his ideas would be advantageous to Mendez if he hopes to not be seen as just rhetoric.