Family cuisine

MOSCOW — Patty Alvarez makes a killer tomatillo salsa. It’s sweet, thick and spicy. It can add kick to a meal and give new verve to the old standard of salsa and chips.

But for the Alvarez family, that sauce did a whole lot more — it got them into the food business.

Today Alvarez, 31, and her husband Gerardo, 34, run Patty’s Kitchen, a popular food stand on the outskirts of the University of Idaho campus. At lunch time, especially when the weather’s warm, a line starts forming in front of their small counter around 11:30. People come for the authentic tacos, enchiladas, burritos, tortas, beans and rice.

The couple and their son Tré, now 10, moved to Moscow from Nevada three years ago so Gerardo could pursue a degree in architecture.

At the encouragement of a friend, the Alvarez’s bottled Patty’s green salsa and sold it at the Moscow farmers market.

“I don’t know what it is about Patty, but only she can make it,” said her husband, who is the spokesman for the family and the business.

The salsa did so well, the couple decided to try making and selling the family recipe for tamales. “We made several dozen,” said Gerardo Alvarez. “They sold out in five minutes.”

That led to invitations to set up a food stand at local parties and community events.

“We got into the business because I couldn’t find a summer job,” said Gerardo Alvarez. But they stayed in business to give Patty Alvarez a career.

“The idea for Patty’s Kitchen was not just to pay to bills, but to have something for Patty,” said Alvarez of his wife of 12 years. “That’s why her name is on the restaurant.”

While out on a walk two years ago, the couple passed a vacant business on Sixth Street. The property was covered in weeds and the space was small, but they loved it. They dipped into their retirement savings to buy it, even though it’s right across the street from an outlet of a major Mexican fast-food chain. It was a gamble for a student and his wife. The initial investment was less than $20,000, but that didn’t include the labor and the sleepless nights, they said.

“But we did well that winter,” said Gerardo Alvarez, noting that there was very little space for customers inside the small restaurant. People were willing to stand out in the cold until room opened up.

They declined to say how much the business makes, but said it’s doing well enough that it covers their family’s living expenses.

Patty’s Kitchen now includes a dome-shaped storage unit out back, which the Alvarez’s have filled with art by UI students and use as a foul-weather dining room. Gerardo Alvarez also designed and built a large deck out front, which cost almost as much as their initial investment. “I wanted to make this a place for students built by a student,” he said.

Patty Alvarez has had to tap into her management expertise, experience she gained while working in a Nevada casino. Though she’s often working in the kitchen, she also oversees four employees.

The meals are priced to suit a student’s budget. A full plate runs around $6.

And the food is authentic, the Alvarez’s said. Most of the recipes are either from Patty’s mother or Gerardo’s father. They struggled to find a good local tortilla before finally locating one in a store in Walla Walla that had been delivered from a manufacturer in Oregon. “You can’t get a good tortilla anywhere around here,” said Gerardo Alvarez.

Though they’re operating across the street from a Taco Bell and half a block away from a Taco Del Mar, the Alvarez’s don’t see those restaurants as competition. They’re offering something different, they say.

“We knew there was a need, just by our success at the farmer’s market,” said Gerardo Alvarez.