Tonayan Takes it for Best Mexican Food

We asked, and you voted — this week's Reader's Choice contest goes to t, located at Raley's Town Centre at the intersection of State Farm Drive and Rohnert Park Expressway.

The spot has seen a since last summer, but locals keep it bustling. Those who love this place say it's got the best burrito, fresh salsa, and great margaritas! Tonayan pulled in 34 percent of the vote in this week's poll. 

Looking back at his 40 years in the restaurant industry, Tonayan’s Isidro Velasco says there’s one reason he is where he is today: hard work. He stood perched against the kitchen door on a recent day, and surveyed his restaurant. Patrons sipped margaritas at the bar. A couple at a table near the window in the back of the restaurant crunched tortilla chips with housemade salsa.

The lunch rush just finished; it’s the quiet hour right before dinner begins.

“Today was a good day, business has been picking up,” Velasco says.

Velasco, 59, moved to Los Angeles from Jalisco, Mexico in 1972, when he was 18. A year later he would travel to San Francisco, in search of a new way of life.

“I decided when I was five years old that I wanted to move to America, to start a family,” he says.

Velasco started small. He became a dishwasher; then a bus boy, a server, bartender and manager. He was promoted to cook at Sizzler, and ran front of the house operations at Celia’s Mexican Restaurant in San Rafael. Then he ventured out — and started a new spot in Petaluma called Velasco's with his sister-in-law. He’s modest when asked about how he went from a boy with a dream to a small business owner.

“I just knew what I wanted, and got it,” he says.

Velasco’s work ethic is one that follows him to this day. He’s up early, and closes the restaurant every night with his wife of 22 years, Laura. Rarely is there a week when the two aren’t there all seven days.

The two came Rohnert Park in 2006. Velasco said they saw it as an opportunity to branch out. Since, the couple has been working to keep the restaurant up despite the soured economy. They recently opened up a full bar and started hosting karaoke Friday and Saturday nights to stay fresh. 

He’s in the back most of the time; she’s out front. No doubt, anyone who’s eaten at Tonayan has witnessed Laura’s stellar service.  She often wears a smile, and hardly stops moving.

Editor's note: Part of this story came from a restaurant review we published last year on Tonayan. .