Reposados – There’s a new restaurant taking Golden by storm, providing authentic Mexican food with a Western twist.
Named Reposados after the second tier of tequila, owners Mel Pollock and Jenna Kluz wanted to create an environment where people could feel comfortable coming to chill and enjoy good food after a long day of skiing. The inspiration for the restaurant came from other taco restaurants in small mountain towns, which have nailed down this particular niche.
“It’s something different, because we don’t have anything like this already here,” said Kluz. “Who doesn’t love tacos?”
The food is all based on traditional Latin American recipes, with a chef that Kluz brought in from Central America specifically for this position.
Some adaptations have been made to the recipes to better suit the fresh ingredients that can be sourced in Western Canada. According to Kluz, it can be difficult to directly recreate a recipe due to limitations of fresh produce and the different meats that are available.
There is also a heavy vegetarian and vegan influence on the menu, inspired by Pollock, who is a vegetarian herself.
“There’s a pretty big vegetarian and vegan option on the menu because of the way the town is going,” said Pollock. “It’s the way the whole world is going, so people are pretty stoked about that.”
Reposados has been a work in progress for almost six months now, with Pollock and Kluz building their restaurant almost entirely from scratch, with nothing but a shell of a building to work with. While there were many easy-going mornings working on computers from home to get everything set up on time, there were also lots of late nights at the restaurant, tiling until 3 a.m.
“It was an emotional roller coaster, it was huge highs and huge lows,” said Pollock. “And being told we couldn’t do things, and then doing them anyway. We made it work.”
Despite all the hard work, Pollock said seeing the restaurant finally become a reality made it all worthwhile.
“The craziest part of it all was when our shelves went in last week. We had already been open for a couple of weeks, so soon as those shelves came in, it pulled everything together,” said Kluz. “It’s actually done, and there are people here, and they love it. Seeing it all come together was just wow. We did it.”
While the restaurant is complete and open to the public now, Pollock and Kluz are still looking for ways to grow and develop their business. For the summer, they’re thinking about introducing a patio for outdoor seating and dining.
Reposados is open every day but Mondays at noon, and offers everything from burritos to nachos, to tacos and homemade hot sauces. Reposados is located just next to the Rockwater in the downtown area at 427 9th Ave N. For more information on their menu and on the restaurant, you can visit their website here.
