‘This is our baby’: Downtown Mount Prospect restaurant set to expand
Mount Prospect’s Prospect Avenue corridor south of the railroad tracks is bustling with new restaurants and high-rise, upscale apartments.
But long before the boom, Mia’s Cantina Mexican Grill and Tequila Bar was ahead of the curve, serving Central Mexican cuisine and margaritas since 2012 while cultivating a family-friendly atmosphere with outdoor dining.
Now, just as the block is changing, so is the cantina. Owner Esteban Aguado and his wife, Joy, have bought the restaurant’s building at 143 W. Prospect Ave. and plan to expand into the space to the east, while converting vacant offices upstairs into apartments.
The bar area in the space next door will have four high-top tables and a large bar with seating for 14. Bar Mia’s will have a bar bites menu that includes cheddar bacon jalapeño poppers and shrimp aguachile verde. It also will offer happy hour specials on weekdays, and a large selection of tequila, mezcal and bourbon.
The current space also will receive a makeover, with the bathrooms and bar being moved to the back of the restaurant and the main seating area opened.
“We’re trying to make it a little more modern,” Aguado said.
They are making a hefty investment, sinking $683,350 into the project. They also will receive $176,500 in tax increment financing district funding from the village.
“You guys are a stalwart in our downtown,” Mayor Paul Hoefert said at a recent village board meeting. “You have a following, and not just the people in Mount Prospect.”
Aguado, 54, was raised in Guanajuato, Mexico, and came to the United States at age 19. He first found work picking cucumbers in Georgia before moving to the Chicago area, where he began working in restaurants, starting as a dishwasher and then a station cook. He moved his way up to manager at restaurants including Fuego in Arlington Heights and Casa Bonita in Libertyville.
When he opened Mia’s Cantina in 2012, he told one customer he was unfortunate it was at the end of the downtown.
“No, you’re wrong. You’re not in the end of the downtown. You’re in the beginning of the downtown,” the customer responded, Aguado said.
With the help of his chef and nephew, German Marquez, he reaches into his roots to dish out the cuisine of his native town. The restaurant uses fresh lime juice in its drinks and high quality black Angus for its steaks.
As for the enchiladas, he points out, “Everybody serves with rice and beans. We serve it with potatoes and carrots.”
After almost moving into the 20West apartment building nearby, Aguado decided to buy the restaurant’s current building.
In addition to Mount Prospect, Aguado owns restaurants in Wheeling and Schaumburg.
“This is our baby,” he said of the Mount Prospect cantina. “This little place gave us all the tools to open the other places.”