La Esquina Bistro & Restaurant
Victor Cruz, Benoit Tesson and Ramon Cruz have opened a fantastic new restaurant featuring French and Mediterranean food.
The Cruz brothers always dreamed of opening a business together. So when Ramon and Ben suggested to Victor that they open a restaurant in San Carlos, Victor and his fiancé, Nicole, enthusiastically endorsed the venture.
The Cruz family is from Guadalajara but has little by little moved back to Sonora where their mom is originally from. She returned ten years ago after the passing of her husband. Ramon, a single dad, has lived in San Carlos for the past six years. He owns several other businesses, including two night clubs and two sports bars. Victor and Nicole recently moved from Tucson to San Carlos to help run the restaurant. They are looking forward to being back near the ocean as well as being closer to Victor’s family.
Benoit is originally from Vannes which is four hours west of Paris. He studied culinary arts at Saint Ivy in Pontivy, France. His aunt and uncles were also chefs. He came to San Carlos while working on a private yacht and liked it so much that he decided to stay. He spent this past summer as chef on another private yacht in Alaska while waiting for the restaurant to open.
One of the waiters, Marc, who met Benoit this summer, is also from France but has lived in Sonora for the past ten years where his brother has also made home. All of the floor staff is bilingual except for Benoit and Marc who are trilingual, speaking Spanish, English and French.
Benoit shops daily for all the fresh ingredients. All of the dishes, including desserts, are made from scratch – from the pizza sauce to the tiramisu.
They have an outdoor brick oven with mesquite wood where all of the pizzas are made with Italian-style thin crust. Pizzas are then uniquely served on thick round slices of tree. There is also a full service bar that has the feeling of an intimate wine bar. You can dine outdoors on the heated patio, or indoors surrounded by beautiful brick walls that gently arch into the ceiling, with recessed candle lighting.
La Esquina Bistro & Restaurant is in Plaza las Palmas (with the Oxxo and CEA). The restaurant is in the back corner of the plaza (hence the name “La Esquina”).
