WCCO Viewers' Choice For Best Guacamole In Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The avocado is really having a moment. A Google search yields hundreds of recipes from soups to even ice cream.
But the original avocado recipe is guacamole, especially at St. Paul's Boca Chica -- which WCCO viewers picked as Minnesota's best.
"It's really popular," co-owner Jose Frias said. "I think our guacamole is the best for many reasons, but the absolute main reason I think is that we make it fresh."
Boca Chica is the original Mexican restaurant of St. Paul's West Side neighborhood.
"We've been around here for 51 years. The restaurant was started by my grandparents, Guillermo and Gloria Frias," Jose said. "I'm third generation."
And second generation is still in the mix. Jose and his father, Alfredo, run the restaurant together.
"We have aunts, cousins, grandma, my father, sisters, literally every single one of those are here today in some shape or form," Jose said.
The guacamole at Boca Chica is a pretty simple recipe created by Grandpa Guillermo.
"It's very important that you use good avocado," Jose said.
Mash it up with salt, cilantro and lemon -- and that's it!
"You always have to taste it at the end, and then you might have to tweak it a little bit," he said.
But what makes it the best is apparently a secret.
"We have a little bit of a twist," Jose said. "We have a little thing that my grandfather started a long time ago."
And that's how they do it at Boca Chica: Everything is from scratch, but with a twist.
There are tons of events going on as part of the Cinco de Mayo festivities in on the west side of St. Paul, including street festivals, live entertainment, margaritas, local artists and a jalapeno and burrito eating contest.