A Family Legacy at Mezcal Mexican Bar & Kitchen

A brother and sister bring the flavors of their childhood in Mexico to Ferndale’s Mezcal Mexican Bar & Kitchen

BY MARKHAM HEID / PHOTOGRAPHY BY REBECCA SIMONOV

When Sandra Haro was a young girl, her parents owned a restaurant in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. The business was a modest family affair, and Haro and her brothers helped as needed. Sometimes they cleaned tables. Other times they baked tacos or prepared carnitas.

Now, three decades and one emigration to the United States later, it’s Haro and her brother Jose Granados who own the restaurant and her parents are the ones who help as needed. “They want to be involved, and once or twice a week they come in the morning to help us,” Haro says of her parents, who are in their 60s. “I want them to just enjoy themselves, but they say no, they want to help clean. They want to make sure everything’s ready.”

“But we had this dream of bringing some of our culture over here,” Haro says.

Everything, finally, is ready. Following lengthy pandemic-related delays, Mezcal Mexican Bar & Kitchen opened in April at the corner of Nine Mile and Bermuda, east of Woodward, in downtown Ferndale. It has a laid-back vibe — there’s a hefty bar in the main dining space and colorful murals of masked wrestlers dominate several walls — and it’s named for the smoky agave-based spirit (and close cousin of tequila) that is beloved in Mexico and increasingly appreciated here in the U.S.

Mezcal was inspired in part by Granados’ trips to Mexico. “I was traveling back and forth between Mexico City and Detroit, and I saw an opportunity to bring this food to Michigan,” he says. Granados also liked the idea of picking up the business his parents had set aside when they moved to the U.S. “It’s like a circle,” he says. “Now we have our chance.”

The restaurant’s namesake spirit features prominently on its drink menu. “We have more than 20 mezcals, and we do tasting flights so people can explore and learn,” Haro says. Adventurous guests can sip their drinks with a side of chapulines — fried grasshoppers dusted with a spicy chili-lime rub — which are a traditional bar snack in the Mexican state of Oaxaca where a lot of mezcal is produced. And in case you’re wondering, yes, grasshoppers are safe to eat, and they’re a good source of protein.

“If you go to Mexico City and eat street tacos, that’s how they’re going to give them to you,” she says. “We wanted to create something really authentic and to bring some of our culture here.”

If booze and bugs aren’t your thing, Mezcal’s menu features plenty of classic Mexican cuisine. Assorted tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and salads are on offer, and starters include tostados, nachos, taquitos, and chips and guac. The names of these dishes will be familiar to most guests, but their flavors are a big step up from the fast-casual fare served at chain restaurants like Chipotle. “We wanted to serve simple foods that taste just the way they would in Mexico,” Haro says. She highlights Mezcal’s “street tacos,” which are served in small tortillas and come topped with grilled onions, cilantro, and charred jalapeno or serrano peppers. “If you go to Mexico City and eat street tacos, that’s how they’re going to give them to you,” she says. “We wanted to create something really authentic and to bring some of our culture here.”

While Haro and her brother had a vision for the menu, executive chef Louis Hernandez made it a reality. Hernandez was previously at a small spot in Pontiac that Haro used to go to with her husband. It wasn’t a fancy place, but she says she loved the food and the flavors tasted “right” to her.

Everything Mezcal serves — from the juice in the cocktails to the salsas that accompany the tacos — is made fresh and in house. Haro’s father also lends his palate to the proceedings. “My dad tells us when something doesn’t taste quite right or how to improve it,” Haro says. “You can’t teach that. You know it from living it.”

Although both Haro and Granados helped out in their parents’ restaurant as kids, Mezcal is a big leap for the siblings. Before opening their restaurant, Haro worked in a pediatric clinic and her brother was an accountant. Between them, they had little hospitality or restaurant experience. “But we had this dream of bringing some of our culture over here,” Haro says.

Authenticity at Mezcal extends beyond the food and drinks. Much of the décor at the restaurant comes from the Mexican states of Jalisco and Oaxaca. That includes wooden alebrijes — sculptures of fantastical beasts — and drinking glasses with a cross etched into its base, which are the traditional vessel for mezcal. “The saying is that you have to drink your mezcal until you can see the cross,” Haro says.

She says her family first came to this country in search of better opportunities. While she feels a deep affinity for Mexico, she’s been in the U.S. now for almost 30 years — most of her life — and considers Michigan her home. Part of her inspiration for Mezcal was to help bring these two cultures together. “We want people to feel like they had an experience,” Haro says. “We want them to try our mezcal and taste our good food and feel like they were in Mexico.”

Mezcal Mexican Bar & Kitchen

201 E 9 Mile Rd, Ferndale

(248) 268-3915

mezcalferndale.com