La Casita: Grover Beach Mexican Restaurant’s Full-Flavor Food & Drinks
Story by Zoe Eliott-Shaw
Photography by Gennan Shippen
In one scene from the cult classic TV show “Cheers,” Norm sits down at the bar and Woody asks if he’d like a beer. Norm responds, “a little early, isn’t it?” to which Woody asks, “For a beer?” That question elicits a now famous reply: “No, for stupid questions.”
At La Casita in Grover Beach, it’s never too early for a drink — but General Manager Steph Reyes prefers a drink with tequila made of agave sourced from a family-owned Mexican farm.
“We aren’t trying to be flashy or even packed every night. We’d rather be the neighborhood Cheers,” says Steph. “But, you know, the Mexican version.”
La Casita is a sleeper hit of a restaurant and bar with a cheerful logo and retro neon light. Steph’s mother, Ingrid Chavarria, and stepfather, Jose Luis Quinonez, own and operate the business. Situated along the sprawl of West Grand Avenue, it’s unassumingly located in the Oak Park Plaza, laden with corporate chain fast-food mainstays, a few empty storefronts and quiet banks. An alluring hand-drawn chalkboard sign appears out front each day, listing daily specials that tend to be a combination of Mexican, Guatemalan and Salvadoran.
“Guatemala is a small country between Mexico and El Salvador so a lot of the culture and food bleeds through,” says Steph, whose mother is Guatemalan and spent a lot of her career in Mexican restaurants.
Since opening in 2019, La Casita initially survived the pandemic by selling its food as takeout. Steph and Ingrid drew a loyal clientele while Gabe Stahl began building a bar program.
Over the past few years, this Latina-owned small business has continued to refine its hospitality craft through warm service and its charming and colorful decor. A true mom-and-pop shop, the kitchen is run by Jose and Ingrid, who prepare bright, homestyle Mexican dishes. Lunch and dinner menus include specialties such as chicharrón and cheese pupusas served alongside classics like shrimp a la diabla, mole de pollo or steak ranchero.
“She just added the chicken pepian, and she put in the pupusas — which are more Salvadoran, but we have family from El Salvador so it kinda snuck into our family too,” says Steph of her mother’s menu. Their substantial breakfast array, served until 2pm, offers tired parents, hungry surfers and hungover night owls the chance to feast on pancakes, huevos con chorizo and chilaquiles.
When visitors step into La Casita, they feel an authentic welcome. In the front of house, Steph emulates the same gravitas and warmth as her mother, who embodies the spirit of the abuela — welcoming, charming and kind.
This tight-knit family business, fueled by passion and generations of culinary and hospitality experience, feeds their patrons’ souls — and not just with their killer guacamole. While their menus showcase fresh, time-honored Mexican-American comfort dishes, the bar program has an innovative mission and crafts cocktails unmatched in South County.
Gabe is a former wine industry professional who applied his sommelier training to source family-owned tequilas and mezcals with pride and integrity. “I want to make sure we are buying and pouring Mexican spirits that actually benefit the makers and growers,” he says.
This mission defines the quality of every bottle on their shelf, which are all family-produced and additive-free. Every bottle in the bar is sourced entirely from agave plants that are at least six years old — a more sustainable farming practice than is customary. Faced with pressure to keep up with demand, agave farmers throughout Mexico have increasingly begun harvesting immature agave plants before they bloom. This practice of extruding syrup from green, unripe agave plants deprives bats of a vital food source and also removes one of the few means of reproduction for wild agaves. Many informed players in the bar and beverage industry in recent years have begun confronting the troubling ethics of mass-produced agave spirits and are changing how they source agave. Gabe’s approach sources his spirits from small operations and avoids purchasing from conventional distilleries that use enormous, environmentally harmful machinery.
Along with this requirement, Gabe uses “Nogave,” a term coined by Los Angeles–based bartender Max Reis of Mírate, which re-creates the taste of agave syrup using demerara sugar and orange blossom honey.
Gabe is so dedicated to the balanced drink that he contracts out large ice cubes with flawless clarity. His palate and mixologist skills compel him to avoid excess dilution, even if it means patrons take their time with each complex, herbaceous drink instead of downing it quickly.
“What’s the point of going to all the effort of mixing and gassing my own margaritas and palomas to get a consistent cocktail, preserving it in a can, and then pouring it over ice that melts before you can finish your drink?” he asks.
Gabe wants guests to sip slowly and savor the fizz in a drink. With the knowing smile of a beverage afficionado, he leans in and says, “I’m talking 45 minutes without ice melt versus 15 or 20.”
Gabe takes his agave seriously, putting together impromptu yet exceptional tequila tastings and implementing monthly mezcal subscriptions. But he still has fun with the bar menu and offers his crowd favorite, seasonal “Fluffy Daiquiris,” which resemble slushies with flavor combinations like passionfruit and pineapple.
Steph works hard to pioneer an array of DJ and live music events. With a happy hour menu of small plates like street tacos, corn esquites and jalapeño poppers paired with the bar program’s drinks, it’s hard to go wrong. La Casita is the right place to be for “cheers” or an unfussy — yet mouthwatering — bite to eat.
