RAYMOND – In the last decade, there have been four different restaurants in the bright, white, stand-alone building adjacent to the Raymond Shopping Center.
None succeeded, but the newest iteration, A La Mexicana, which opened Jan. 5 to rave reviews, is hoping to break the streak of bad luck, a feat that would please owners Doug and Evelia Maher and neighboring business owners alike.
Mr. D’s Supper Club – a Southern-style restaurant owned and named after one of the area’s most recognizable figures, Naples resident Dick Dyke – opened in 2001, but closed in 2003 due to lack of interest.
Montebello’s Ristorante, previously of North Conway, opened in 2003, but closed four years later after a fire destroyed the back half of the building.
Roscoe’s Rockin’ Buffet & Lounge opened in early 2010, but closed later in the year due to the sluggish economy and trouble with the state after failing to pay sales tax on restaurant revenue.
Another short-lived restaurant, JD’s Firehouse Grille, opened and closed in 2011.
So, with that history, it’s no wonder the owners of A La Mexicana had initial reservations about whether to stake their savings and hopes on the property.
“When this building became available, I kind of thought about it, but with the history of the building, I was not so sure,” said Evelia Maher, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Doug Maher. “(Doug) passed by and he saw it, and he was the one who said, you know, maybe we should take a look at this place. And that’s what gave me a little bit more motivation.”
Doug Maher, a native of Bridgton who attended Lake Region High School before moving to Canton, Mass., and serving in the U.S. Marines from 2004 to 2008, moved back to the area several years ago. He and his wife now live on Hale Road in Raymond. Maher said he believes A La Mexicana has the keys to success, namely a focus on family dining, value and authentic Mexican cuisine, which will unlock the building’s potential.
“We were a little hesitant because we had seen all the restaurants that had come and gone and we always wondered what would make us more successful than them. And we thought maybe Mexican would be the one that would stick,” Doug Maher said. “But we knew we had to get away from the entertainment side of it and more toward family dining, bringing large families inexpensive meals, something that in this economy you could still afford to take your family out to eat.”
Head chef and general manager Jose Chavez is from Mexico, uses authentic Mexican recipes, and has 15 years experience working in Mexican restaurants in Georgia, North Carolina (where he worked with Evilia Maher while Doug was stationed there) and recently in Biddeford.
While they are seeking an atmosphere welcoming to families, behind the scenes, the 10-person crew acts as a family, as well.
“We think of it as a family restaurant because it’s Jose and two of his brothers, and then also in the kitchen is another set of two brothers and then it’s me and Evelia,” Doug Maher said. “That core of the restaurant is like a family getting together.”
Comfort food
“The name A La Mexicana means the Mexican way. Everything is done Jose’s way; it’s authentic Mexican food. And Mexican food is comfort food. It’s inexpensive, it’s delicious. We stand by everything our chef puts out. It’s all homemade, all the way down to the chips and salsa,” Doug Maher said when asked why his restaurant will succeed where others haven’t.
And he has plenty of others who agree the Mexican cuisine may be a winning recipe.
Dale Southard, owner of a nearby Raymond enterprise, Tailfeathers Upland Store, said he thinks the restaurant has a shot.
“The building hasn’t done very well. I wish them all the luck in the world. It’s a tough time of year to be starting a business for one thing and another thing is the last three or four places that have been in there have had really tough luck,” he said. “But this is new food. Mexican. And there’s really no other Mexican place around, other than Tortilla Flat in Portland.”
Maher confirms Tortilla Flat and Fajita Grill in Westbrook are the nearest Maine competitors, along with offerings in North Conway.
“If you dropped me randomly and I wasn’t from around here and said what would you do for a business in this area, I’d say start a Mexican restaurant,” Doug Maher said.
Real estate broker Tom Noonan, who also lives within a mile of the new restaurant, believes the cuisine will help Maher succeed.
“I think that it’s good that they’re not a run-of-the-mill restaurant, more of a specialty restaurant, because even though it’s less than three miles from Walmart, a lot of people think they just don’t want to go to Raymond,” Noonan said. “But, where it’s a specialty restaurant owned and operated by Mexicans who know their stuff, I think a lot of people will get over the objection of driving the extra three miles to get some authentic Mexican food.”
Dyke, the former owner of Mr. D’s Supper Club and 70 other ventures that have made him a multi-millionaire, believes the Mexican fare and flair might work well in the unique building.
“I think it is a desired menu and if they do a good job with their food they should do well,” Dyke said. “The building is big enough for music and dancing, which would make it different. The thing they have to look out for is letting their bar drive their business as it attracts a bad element, which will in the long term kill their restaurant business. That’s what killed all those that followed Mr. D’s.”
The former Montebello’s owner, Enzo Raggiani, contacted at the Italian restaurant he manages in Dedham, Mass., has fond memories of his time in Raymond and said Mexican food might succeed where Italian did not. But he sees the Raymond location as a seasonal spot, which makes survival difficult for any restaurant venture.
“It’s just the region. It’s seasonal and not year-round business,” Raggiani said. “A Mexican restaurant? Yes, it could be successful. This is a different approach, different for Raymond and the Windham region. But I thought Italian was going to hit the home run, but (that) didn’t happen. The fire? That was definitely part of it. But everything happens for a reason, and we do the best we can.”
A needed ‘destination’
Folks who have an indirect financial stake in A La Mexicana’s success are neighboring business owners.
Mark Accousti, owner of the Raymond Shopping Center adjacent to the restaurant, wants to see the Mahers succeed.
“From what I’ve seen, it looks like they are pretty squared away,” he said. “They’ve got good help. They’ve got good food. We ate there on their opening night, actually, and it was excellent. I thought it was authentic and the atmosphere was really family friendly.”
Accousti said the overall economy and the location north of the large Windham commercial sector’s border have negatively impacted past ventures in the building.
“Its proximity to all the Windham competition makes it a little difficult to attract all the people south of here to come north,” he said. “However, if they do a good job they’re going to attract people who live between Bridgton and Portland. But everything helps each other here. The more people we can attract to this little plot of land we all share the better off we’re all going to be.”
David Mai, owner of Angel Nails in the Raymond Shopping Center, says everyone is talking about the new restaurant.
“I’ve seen three restaurants in two years,” Mai said. “We hope now someone makes it. It helps local business. I’m very hopeful. All my customers talk about that. Employees (who have) been over there say it’s good. Some of my customers say it’s very good.”
Glenn Thomas, owner of Lake Region Wireless, the Mahers’ immediate abutter, has seen similar reaction.
“We’re getting a lot of good feedback,” Thomas said. “We repair cell phones as well as being an AT&T dealer, so most of the time we can do a repair while someone waits. So we’ve been sending them over there and they come back and say, ‘This is fabulous, this is great, the prices are great.’ It’s just hitting the spot in a lot of ways.
“So we’re really pleased and we want to help them all we can to succeed, because we really need a destination business here because a lot of people have closed up and people drive right by us because there’s not enough to keep people here. It’s important for everybody,” Thomas said. “And because it’s not another typical restaurant, which you might find in Windham, this brings people in because there’s no other game in town.”
Owners Doug and Evelia Maher, at left, are joined in their new A
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