Tonny Del Solar, co-owner of Los Amigos del Sur, makes a drink while talking with Ingrid Sonne and Jordon Nelson on Friday at the restaurant in the Main Mall in downtown Durango. “The smell, it brings me memories of my town,”said Del Solar of the restaurant.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Consuelo Gomez, cook and co-owner of Los Amigos del Sur, roasts tomatillos and chilies for her fresh salsa on Friday at the restaurant in the Main Mall.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Steak tacos, supreme nachos and strawberry margaritas are served at Los Amigos del Sur on Friday in the Main Mall in downtown Durango.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald<br>05-05-17-Durango- Consuelo Gomez, cook/co-owner of Los Amigos del Sur, roasts tomatillo's and chilies for her fresh salsa on Friday at the restaurant in the Main Mall in downtown Durango.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald<br>05-05-17-Durango- Los Amigos del Sur in the Main Mall in downtown Durango.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald<br>05-05-17-Durango- Ingrid Sonne and Jordon Nelson enjoy lunch at Los Amigos del Sur,on Friday in the Main Mall in downtown Durango.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald<br>05-05-17-Durango- Consuelo Gomez, cook/co-owner of Los Amigos del Sur, roasts tomatillo's, chilies, and peppers for her fresh salsa on Friday at the restaurant in the Main Mall in downtown Durango.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald<br>05-05-17-Durango- Consuelo Gomez, cook/co-owner of Los Amigos del Sur, makes her fresh enchilada sauce on Friday at the restaurant in the Main Mall in downtown Durango.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald<br>05-05-17-Durango- Tonny Del Solarco-owner of Los Amigos del Sur, makes a drink while talking with Ingrid Sonne and Jordon Nelson on Friday at the restaurant in the Main Mall in downtown Durango.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald<br>05-05-17-Durango- Consuelo Gomez, cook/co-owner of Los Amigos del Sur, makes her fresh rice and veggies on Friday at the restaurant in the Main Mall in downtown Durango.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald<br>05-05-17-Durango- Supreme nachos served at Los Amigos del Sur, on Friday in the Main Mall in downtown Durango.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald<br>05-05-17-Durango- Beverly St. Clair, left, and Monie Schlarb, enjoy lunch at Los Amigos del Sur, on Friday in the Main Mall in downtown Durango.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald<br>05-05-17-Durango- Steak tacos served at Los Amigos del Sur, on Friday in the Main Mall in downtown Durango.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald<br>05-05-17-Durango- Fried banana ice cream served at Los Amigos del Sur, on Friday in the Main Mall in downtown Durango.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald<br>05-05-17-Durango- Strawberry margaritas with chili lime and sugar and salt on the rim is just one of many drinks served at Los Amigos del Sur, on Friday in the Main Mall in downtown Durango.
Tonny Del Solar was having a small going away party in December for his friends when they decided to open a restaurant together instead.
“My dream was always to have my own business,” Del Solar said.
In April, Los Amigos Del Sur opened inside the Main Mall with a menu featuring dishes from southern Mexico, home to some of the owners. The business took over a vacant space formerly home to Emilio’s.
As the name implies, the restaurant serves seafood such as calamari, oysters, ceviche and Cazuela de Mariscos, a seafood stew.
“They are bringing another flavor from Oaxaca” to town, Zulema Arguelles said. Arguelles met the owners as a customer and encouraged them to start their own business.
Los Amigos also serves barbacoa beef slowly cooked in banana leaves, a traditional technique, and a variety of chicken dishes, such as chicken breast in mole sauce and breaded chicken breast served with avocado slices and pico de gallo. Enchiladas, fajitas, carne asada, chile rellenos and tacos are also on the menu.
Del Solar opened the business with his husband, Kevin Abeyta, and their friends, Consuelo Gomez and Elivia Cruz.
Gomez and Cruz were considering moving back to Mexico when the two couples decided to go into business together over dinner, Del Solar said.
The mojitos they made that night are now on the menu, he said.
The owners all have restaurant experience, and most of the staff of 10 previously worked at Tacos Nayarit, he said.
Del Solar started working in restaurants almost 11 years ago after he immigrated to the United States from Chiapas, Mexico, when he was 13. He started part time and worked three jobs for a while.
Francis Garcia, the former owner of Francisco’s Restaurante y Cantina, advised Del Solar and his business partners on how to start their business and helped them find a space.
Garcia suggested opening in the spring before the busy summer season, Del Solar said.
“It’s been good so far,” Del Solar said.
The restaurant is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. By using our site, you consent to our policies
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
