La Plaza Supermarket is located on Lakewood Heights Boulevard and has a variety of authentic Mexican foods and items. The store is owned by Adrian Ortega and was previously located on Lorain Avenue before moving to its current location in 2011. Since the supermarket’s start they have served tacos, burritos, quesadillas, tostadas and many other foods from a counter in the back of the store. On days where the weather was good, they would even put a taco cart in front of the supermarket. Their small-scale set-up was enough until the broader public discovered the street food style tacos offered by La Plaza.

Word slowly spread through the community of La Plaza’s cuisine and business began to explode. Eventually, the small makeshift cafe had to go under renovations to try to keep up. More seating was added, additional employees hired and another griddle was installed. However, it was still not enough. Lines would sometimes stretch down isles of the supermarket and the demand did not slow.

The management of La Plaza made the decision to carve out part of the stores front and turn it into a Taqueria. The construction lasted months and many followed it, eagerly awaiting its opening. On Friday November 9th the wait finally came to an end.

The Taqueria still sells the same lineup of asada, al pastor, barbacoa, lengua and chorizo tacos, tortas, tamales and quesadillas as before, but the dining experience has greatly changed. Now customers will be able to pay for their meal with debit and credit cards. The Taqueria can now seat approximately 40 people inside and also will have patio seating. In addition to the street style food, there is a selection of La Michoacana brand ice creams and frozen treats.

The space previously used to create the cuisine will be decommissioned and given back to La Plaza’s bakery. There is now more room for the bakers to make and sell the variety of cookies, cakes and another authentic treats.

All these changes made to La Plaza will give customers a better experience when enjoying the food. Lakewood High School senior, Christine Larson, has been purchasing food from La Plaza with her family for many years. When asked about her thoughts on the renovations Christine said, “I think it was a very good idea for theses changes to be made. It will definitely make it much easier to get tacos and I am looking forward to trying their ice cream selection!”