SOUTH BEND — Amparo Fernandez spent many years of her life feeling like a side character. She was crucial to moving the plot and a core character in the show’s stability but never really had the spotlight.
Mami Mari’s was Fernandez’s way of finally running the show under her own terms with her own recipes. And with the help of her children, Julio, Erika and Lupe De La Cruz, Fernandez will never forget what the center stage tastes like.
“She’s back there whipping it up. She’s running that kitchen,” Julio said. “The flavors are hers, [and] this is her restaurant. … I think we all provide a little bit, my sisters and myself, but at the end of the day, she’s the one that’s driving this thing.”
Julio was adamant that without Fernandez, there would be no Mami Mari’s, but to understand her journey to owning a restaurant, it’s crucial to know the family legacy that got her there.
Mami Mari’s influence
In the mid ‘90s, Fernandez’s brother Tio Gerado moved to South Bend and opened Casa Roma, a Mexican and Italian restaurant. The concept didn’t last long, and in about 1996, Gerado changed the name to La Esperanza, the name of his mother.
While her brother owned La Esperanza, Fenandez offered her help and worked in the kitchen, helping the family create classic Mexican dishes.
“She was the last of her siblings to come here in the ‘90s, and she’s always been sort of the bridesmaid in all the restaurants,” Julio said. “She’s always there helping, always in the back of the house doing all the work while her brothers get the glory.”
La Esperanza now has two locations: one at 408 W. Western Ave. near Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium and one in Elkhart.
However, the original location of Casa Rosa and La Esperanza, 1636 N. Ironwood Drive, was left empty when the restaurant moved to its current location in the heart of downtown.
After almost 30 years at the Ironwood location, Fernandez couldn’t stand to watch the building sit vacant.
“We’ve been here for so long, but she didn’t want my uncle’s legacy to be forgotten,” Julio said.
From there, the idea of Mami Mari’s was born so that Fernandez could finally have something to call her own.
Named after her own mother, Mari, Fernandez wanted Mami Mari’s to represent and embody the same sense of warmth that Mari brought to her family’s life.
“She passed away a long time ago, but she’s the one that established that welcome feeling that La Esperanza is known for,” Julio said. “Anytime you came into the house, grandma made you feel like you were part of a family.”
Adding Mexican flair
Fernandez was able to keep the same booths and many of the same tables from La Esperanza, but the building was ready for a deep clean, Julio said. The family may still be working on sprucing up the interior, but bits and pieces of Fernandez and her mother are sprinkled across the restaurant.
A framed photo of Mari, whom Fernandez is almost a spitting image of, hangs on the walls. The flowers and plants placed around the restaurant are Fernandez’s doing. Along with her green thumb for plants, Juilo said, she has that same green thumb for business.
“She knows what it takes for a plant to grow, and I think that she’s getting the joy out of being in the kitchen, but to see the fruit of the work that we’ve been putting in for the last 15 months, that’s starting to really come about,” Julio said.
Since reopening in May 2025, Julio said his mom has worked tirelessly to improve and put her own twist on classic Mexican food. While living in Mexico City, Fernandez learned how to cook with fresh ingredients, grown right on her parents’ farm. There may not have always been enough food, but what was there was as fresh as food comes, Fernandez said.
“Here there’s more food, but it’s not as good,” Fernandez said. “It’s not trash, but in my country everything lasts. With too many pesticides, the food is not the same.”
Mami Mari’s makes food in small batches to ensure each customer receives the freshest food possible, Julio said, and Fernandez refuses to use canned tomatoes for her salsa.
To add some “Mexican flair,” Fernandez added traditional Mexican sides that she and her children grew up eating, such as zucchini grilled with onion and tomato and nopales — prickly pear cactus pads.
Growing up, Fernandez worked at a tortilleria, or a tortilla shop, so tacos at Mami Mari’s are made with house-made dough that she crafts herself. It’s the little changes that Fernandez has made to make Mami Mari’s stand out from other local Mexican restaurants, Julio said: making a thick mole sauce, spicy almond-based chicken almendrado sauce or bringing fried street quesadillas to South Bend.
“It’s those things that we’ve been slowly tweaking and setting that are making the menu stand out a little bit more,” Julio said. “Those are the things that I think are really having an impact.”
Building her own legacy
The growth of Mami Mari’s has been steady and gradual, Julio said, and the family has enjoyed watching the restaurant grow after starting with almost no budget.
At first, the family was scraping by to get started, “so being able to go from zero to where we are now, it’s huge progress,” Julio said. “We literally just came in and just used our hard-earned sweat, work and tears to make it happen.”
And at the core of the restaurant’s success is Fernandez, doing what she loves everyday and building her own legacy to pass down to her children.
When Fernandez first moved to the United States, she worked at factories and La Esperanza to provide for her family. Julio said that although she’s working for herself now, she’s also working with the future of her family in mind.
“She’s every day. She comes in all morning, runs that kitchen and goes home at the end of the day,” Juilo said. “She’s exhausted. She’s 68, where most people retire, and she’s on that grind every day.”
Right now, the entire restaurant is family-run, Julio said, and the hope is that soon Fernandez will be able to enjoy retirement the way it’s intended. But for now, she plans to continue to show her love for her family, friends and strangers with food.
“That’s how she cares for people, because it’s the one thing she could afford,” Julio said. “She’s always enjoyed cooking. I think now she’s cooking with purpose.”
Mami Mari’s
● What: restaurant with traditional and elevated Mexican food
● Where: 1636 N. Ironwood Drive, South Bend
● Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays; closed Sundays
● Prices: $10-$20
● For more information: Call 574-606-3169 or visit mamimaris.com.
If you know of a restaurant that should be featured in an upcoming Taste column, email Tribune staff writer for Taste Jessica Velez at jvelez@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Mami Mari’s owner builds her own legacy to pass down through cooking
Reporting by Jessica Velez, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jessica Velez, South Bend Tribune | USA TODAY Network
