Customers dine in the enclosed portion of Lala’s Gorditas. Credit: Courtesy Photo / Lala's Gorditas

Thanks to in no small part to its ground-in-house masa, San Antonio eatery Lala’s Gorditas is a local Tex-Mex favorite, but the winter months have been tough.

Owner Steven Pizzini took to social media last weekend to ask Lala’s 10,000 Facebook followers to help out by placing walk-up or curbside pickup orders because business was desperately slow. Supporters came through early in the week, but things have trailed off again, he told the Current.

“The initial response was good for a couple of days, and [Thursday] was good because it was nice [outside],” said Pizzini, whose restaurant is located at 1600 Roosevelt Ave.

Some customers may be staying away because of tight budgets brought on by inflation, Pizzini said. However, some of the recent downturn may be due to a misconception that Lala’s only has outdoor seating, he added.

“I don’t know that the word has gotten out to everybody that we have an enclosure that’s climatized,” he said.

The restaurant’s enclosure keeps out the wind, rain and cold, Pizzini said. For the summer, he even installed a swamp cooler that uses evaporated water to keep the air around 80 degrees even as outside temperatures soar past 100.

Despite the food’s solid rep, including praise from local critics, Pizzini said he worries the good months of the year aren’t enough to keep the lights on.

Trying to keep the business going is about a legacy that starts well before Lala’s 2019 opening. Pizzini’s aunt opened Teka Molino in 1938, and his father founded the well-remembered Taco Hut in 1958.

“I was reluctant to send that plea out on social media on the advice of several friends, but I did it anyway,”  Pizzini said.

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This article appears in Jan 24 – Feb 6, 2024.