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ST. LOUIS STANDARDS
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ICONIC PEOPLE, PLACES & DISHES T H A T A N C H O R S T L’ S F O O D S C E N E
Old School Hacienda’s Mexican fare connects the restaurant to the community — and to the past Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
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hen Alexandra “Alex” Rodriguez tells the story of Hacienda, she cannot separate the restaurant from her late father, Norberto, even though he would have disliked some of the details she chooses to share. A native of Tampico, Mexico, Norberto immigrated to the United States when he was just sixteen years old, making the journey by himself save for an acquaintance who was bound for New York. Though Norberto thought he’d make the way up east too, his fellow expat told him that the Big Apple might be too fast for him, handed him $10 and said he should try St. Louis instead. With no formal education and no English, Norberto accepted the money and was determined to figure it out. “He always hated that I’d share he didn’t have a formal education, but I think that’s the coolest part,” Rodriguez says. “He is completely self-taught. He came here completely alone with only ten bucks and a ‘good luck’ from his friend. is first ob here as on a farm making one dollar a week. I can’t even imagine how little money that was, but he did what he had to do for a minute, then found his way into restaurants and worked his way up.” Now at the helm of the restaurant her dad founded in 1968, Rodriguez can’t help but feel a sense of pride at what he accomplished, as well as an obligation to keep his dream alive. It’s a weight — albeit a welcome one — she feels because of Norberto s significant impact on the St. Louis dining scene. When he arrived in St. Louis in the early 1960s, Mexican cuisine was not widely available, but he was instrumental in changing that. He started out slowly, opening an American-style breakfast spot in downtown Overland, where he gradually added Mexican dishes to the menu here and
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RIVERFRONT TIMES
Hacienda has been a St. Louis tradition since 1968. | ANDY PAULISSEN
Now at the helm of the restaurant her dad founded in 1968, Rodriguez can’t help but feel a sense of pride at what he accomplished. there. It didn’t take long for him to develop a following, so he expanded both his hours and offerings, turning the daytime spot into a budding Mexican restaurant. Norberto’s restaurant eventually outgrew the small breakfast spot’s space, and as he looked around for larger digs, he realized that there was enough demand for his Mexican dishes to open a place solely dedicated to the country’s culinary traditions. That restaurant, Hacienda, opened in 1968 just down Woodson Road from his original daytime concept, and was an instant success — so much that he began scouting for a second loca-
NOVEMBER 24-30, 2021
riverfronttimes.com
Alex Rodriguez proudly carries on her dad’s legacy. | ANDY PAULISSEN tion a handful of years after opening the Overland original. When he came upon an old residenceturned-restaurant on Manchester Road in the middle of Rock Hill, he knew he’d found his spot. When he opened the current Rock Hill Hacienda in 1977, the area as significantly less de eloped than it is today. However, Norberto had the foresight to see what the area could become, and he sold off his original location to some family members so that he
could focus on the new place. As Rodriguez explains, there was just something special about the space that people felt drawn to, likely because of its colorful history — something that everyone who worked there embraced. “This location was originally a residence that was owned by a steamboat captain,” Rodriguez says. “It had already been converted into a restaurant when my dad bought it, but if you look around, you can tell where the ex-
