Meals with a purpose at Mijas

Helping Women: Restaurant offers traditional Mexican food, hope

MOLLY GILMORE; Contributing writer | • Published February 19, 2010

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There's an authentic Latin American restaurant in town, but if you haven't heard about it, that wouldn't be too surprising.

The restaurant, which began operations in October, is open only one day a month — at least for now.

MIJAS, serving a fixed-price meal of traditional Mexican dishes, is a budding cooperative business founded by — and aimed at helping — women who have experienced domestic violence.

The name stands for Mujeres (women) Improving Job Abilities and Skills. Mijas also is a Spanish term of endearment used among women.

“It’s a contraction of mi hija, which means ‘my daughter,’ ” said Cristina Labra, one of the founders of MIJAS. “Women will call other women ‘mija.’ ”

MIJAS hosts meals at Chica’s Cafe on Legion Way the third Saturday of each month.

A three-course meal is priced at $15; Saturday, though, the women behind the restaurant are experimenting with serving antojitos instead.

“They’re like tapas or dim sum,” Labra said. “We’ll have tons of appetizers and different sauces, so people can try different styles of food.”

The menu is mostly Mexican, but Labra is from Chile and sometimes makes a dish from there or Peru.

Reservations are needed because the restaurant has been so popular, she said.

“For the first dinner in October, we weren’t asking for reservations. Our goal was 100 people, and we were thinking that we were aiming too high. Our publicity was just e-mails that I sent and people forwarded to their friends.

“We served 125 meals that day. We had a wait of an hour and half to seat people, and then we had to turn people away because we ran out of food. It was incredible.”

The restaurant’s six founders also offer catering and will offer cooking classes in April.

“Once we have everything in place, we would like to start our own restaurant and rent our own spot,” said Labra, who is studying for a master’s in public administration at The Evergreen State College and works part-time at Chica’s.

The women — all except Labra are survivors of domestic violence — also are working toward nonprofit status. Already, they have been employing other women who have experienced violence at home.

“Each time we have an event, we hire at least two other women who are referred to us by Safeplace,” Labra said. “The main reason women don’t leave their abusers is because of economic situations. They can come and work at the restaurant and earn some extra money.”

Sandi Thompson-Royer, education and training coordinator for Safeplace, admires their efforts. “Many of these women have full-time jobs, they are studying English, they are single moms and yet they want to do this business as well to help other women.”

The women met at an advocacy training offered by Safeplace and coordinated by Thompson-Royer — the first time such a training had been offered in Spanish in Washington.

“I was invited and the ladies that I’m working with in the restaurant were also there,” Labra said. “We had a potluck every day, and the food was just amazing. We were joking around, saying, ‘We could start a restaurant.’ ”

And so they have. Safeplace, which has offered meeting space and supplies, has continued to be a part of the business’s evolution.

So has Thompson-Royer. She plans to help the women apply for a grant and to take them to visit a similar program in southern Oregon. She’ll also be helping at the dinner on Saturday.

“My heart is with these women,” said Thompson-Royer, who is working toward a bachelor’s degree at Evergreen, where she’s been doing work with women’s cooperatives.

“It’s very common in Latin America for women to work together cooperatively for businesses and community organizations,” she said. “What these women are doing is very natural in their culture. One of the women in the group talked about being part of a cooperative in Mexico where she’s from. They made decisions together and held money together.

“And often these cooperatives benefit their families and they’re communities. If you asked these women why they are doing this, that’s what they’d tell you.”

MIJAS Restaurant

What: This once-a-month restaurant featuring authentic Mexican food is a cooperative effort among several women who have survived domestic violence. It is designed to teach job skills to other survivors.

When: 3 to 9 p.m. the third Saturday of each month, including this Saturday

Where: Chica’s Cafe, 109 Legion Way S.W., Olympia

Price: $15 for a meal; beverages sold separately

Reservations: mijasrestaurant@gmail.com or 360-951-9982. E-mail reservations for Saturday will be accepted only through tonight; call for last-minute reservations.