San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Express-News

April 17, 1998

Column: Column

Recipe creator still stirring things up

Author: Karen Haram

Edition: Metro
Section: Weekender
Page: 25H

Estimated printed pages: 2

Article Text:

Back in 1978, when Taco Cabana first opened at the corner of Hildebrand and San Pedro, then-owner Felix Stehling turned to Margie Lopez Abonce to create the recipes and do the cooking at the tiny taco stand.

Some 20 years later, Taco Cabana has turned into a 110-restaurant chain with multi-million dollar sales. Abonce is no longer with the chain, but that doesn't mean that those who long for the taste of her cooking are out of luck.

Abonce, you see, is still cooking - now at the restaurant that bears her name, Mama Margie's (2503 S.W. Military Drive, 923-1600). And while she doesn't say the recipes are the same as those at the old Taco Cabana, those who recall those original addictive flavors will taste a definite similarity.

Although a large portrait of Abonce is framed near the doorway of Mama Margie's, and most people think she owns the popular Southside restaurant, she says the owners are Pat and Mike Stehling, brothers and former partners of the Taco Cabana founder.

"More than 10 years ago, the brothers split the business and we started another chain - TaCasita. That was sold back to Taco Cabana and we started over here five years ago," she says.

Like the original Taco Cabana, the concept at Mama Margie's is "fresh quality. We make the corn tortillas from scratch. We make nothing ahead. We make things in little portions. We cut our lettuce, tomatoes, onions from scratch. We don't buy any produce that's prepared," she says.

And like the original Taco Cabana, you can get some old favorites, like the al carbon plate (called carne asada, $5.49, at Mama Margie's) and those incomparable, famous beans that leave customers hungering for more.

"We sell a lot of bean and cheese tacos. They're the cheapest taco (89 cents) and the best. We call Mama Margie's 'Bean and Cheese Country' because we sell so many of them," she says.

After all these years, Abonce's not about to spill the beans on what makes her refrieds so special. She presoaks them, and flavors them with salt and fresh garlic - no powdered garlic for her, she says - but she's mum beyond that.

Abonce learned to cook at the age of 12 from her mother and grandmother in Allende, Coahuila, Mexico, where the family lived. "I still love to cook. It's my hobby. I raised eight kids and cooking for them is like a little restaurant at home," she says.

Besides carne asada and beans, Abonce's specialties include carne guisada, fajitas and Pollo Jack enchiladas. And her carne guisada - made Tex-Mex style with healthy additions of jalapeno, tomato and onion - is spectacular.

College students who helped make the original Taco Cabana a hit still are loyal Abonce customers. "They've known me for a long time. These kids were students at Trinity and San Antonio College. They're like my relatives," she says.

After 35 years of cooking five to six days a week, Abonce has no plans to quit any time soon. Nor do several fellow employees, who have followed Abonce from Taco Cabana No. 1 to TaCasita to Mama Margie's.

"I'm lucky. I've got only one restaurant now, so I can check on things every day," she says. "I want the customers to be happy. That's my main job."