New SLO County Mexican restaurant features massive burritos and other favorites
Partners Wendy Morales and Rafael Hernandez were fulfilling her long-held dream when they opened their La Katrina Cocina in November near the south end of Morro Bay’s Embarcadero business district.
Morales grew up in family-owned restaurants, studied the culinary and hospitality industries at Cuesta College, and worked for a corporate restaurant chain for 13 years, rising to the post of restaurant manager.
That’s where she met her husband, restaurant veteran Hector Morales, who worked for the chain for 17 years, becoming the kitchen manager there. Now he creates Mexican-food specialties alongside Hernandez at La Katrina.
During her years in the industries, Wendy Morales yearned to have her own cocina, where she could showcase her family’s authentic Mexican recipes, each with her own modernizing twist.
That dream began to come true in late summer 2022, when the San Luis Obispo residents began negotiating to buy what used to be the China Dragon restaurant and buffet business.
Once the deal was done, they began the somewhat overwhelming job of changing the building’s décor and ambiance from an Asian theme into one featuring popular Mexican colors like purple, hot pink, turquoise and pineapple yellow.
Continuing the generational link, the Morales children — Benjamin, 13 and Axel, 7 — occasionally help their parents at La Katrina.
“Axel always says, ‘Mom, I feel I need to help you,’” his mother said. “He wants to be here every day.”
Morales said Hernandez had a dream, too, realizing it about four years ago when he sold his partnership in Nucci’s in San Luis Obispo and bought Pancho’s Mexican Food from her sister Julie Gonzales. Hector Morales went to work there for Hernandez, which was how the couples met.
Hernandez’s wife, Adela Barboza, is also involved in La Katrina, Wendy Morales said, but she and Hernandez are the partners in the restaurant.
When asked what her bucket list is for their restaurant now, she said, “more than anything, I want a successful business that everybody enjoys coming into, and loves our food. … I want to complete our (beer and wine) bar, and get our food into everybody’s tummies. … We all have a dream. … I think everybody deserves a chance to make their dreams come true.”
What’s on the menu at La Katrina
The offerings at Pancho’s and La Katrina are similar, but Morales has put her touches on the latter’s menu, changes that include different soups (rich in shrimp and/or fish, or chicken, with albondigas meatball or menudo on weekends), plus various fish items and two kinds of the popular breakfast chilaquiles.
What may be the cocina’s most popular item, she said, is a massive “wet” burrito filled with shrimp grilled in chipotle sauce then packed into a large flour tortilla with Mexican rice, beans, pineapple, bell pepper and onions. The chefs then smother the concoction in red sauce and melted cheese before being topped with avocado, lettuce, tomato and sour cream.
Weighing in at about 2 pounds, the Chipotle Shrimp Burrito is a big-appetite meal, or a great split between two hungry diners.
Morales said another equally big La Katrina specialty, the Burrito Ranchero, probably is the second most popular entrée there. It’s packed with a chili relleno and the diner’s choice of chicken, beef, pork chile verde, carne asada, pollo asado, al pastor, carnitas or grilled vegetables. It’s then finished the same way the chipolte shrimp burrito is.
Other offerings include appetizers, seven other burritos (any of which can be served “wet”) and a chimichanga, soft tacos, fajitas, those soups, salads and La Katrina’s “especialidades,” which range from dishes with the featured meats or shrimp, flautas and the ever-popular chile relleno con crema, which is stuffed with sauteed corn, onions and queso fresco and smothered in red cream sauce.
In the “Los Creativos” category, diners can combine items for a combo meal served with the cocina’s mild but tasty Mexican rice and beans, which can be topped with salsa, pico de gallo and/or a variety of hot sauces.
Customers become friends
Mid-morning on Dec. 30, Bob and Ruthie Ashton of Los Osos were among the diners who had opted for a La Katrina breakfast.
But the Ashtons had another reason for being there.
“This is our first time at La Katrina,” he said, but they’re some of Moraleses’ former customers-turned-friends. “We’ve followed her from restaurant to restaurant like little puppies.”
“She’s a sweetheart,” Ruthie Ashton said of the woman who always served them well and, when her workload allowed, would sit and chat with the couple for a while, making them feel extra special.
It’s a welcoming skill Morales has brought to La Katrina, greeting her customers warmly, explaining the menu items and making sure they get exactly what they wanted when they walked into the cocina.
Morales is still wrestling with their social media platforms, but people can find the restaurant’s multi-page menu and some information at lakatrinamexicancocina.com or by searching on Facebook for La Katrina Morro Bay.
The cocina is open seven days a week at 500 Embarcadero, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner Mondays through Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., then breakfast and lunch on Sundays, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. For information or to place an order, call 805-225-1570.
This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
